Economic hardship and the lack of stable employment are forcing increasing numbers of children and teenagers in Iran’s border regions into kolbari, the dangerous practice of carrying goods across mountainous frontiers in exchange for money, Iran’s labour-focused news agency ILNA reported on Sunday.

Labour activist Abdollah Belvasi warned that the growing involvement of minors in the hazardous work reflects worsening poverty and financial instability among border communities.

“The fact that a teenager sets out on a route where there is a risk of being shot, a mine explosion or an accident, either to help their family or cover school and living expenses, should be a serious warning to society,” Belvasi told ILNA.

“A child should be sitting at a school desk, not on a kolbari route,” he added.

Belvasi said poverty and unstable household incomes are increasingly affecting families living along Iran’s borders, leaving some children and teenagers with little choice but to take part in the dangerous work to support their families and meet educational and daily living expenses.

The practice exposes young people to severe risks, including gunfire, landmines and fatal accidents in the region’s difficult mountainous terrain.