The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is urgently calling for the immediate release of all children detained during recent public unrest in Iran. The agency is deeply concerned that minors arrested in connection with the protests remain in custody.
Unrest erupted in late December 2025 across Iran, fueled by soaring inflation, rising food prices, and currency collapse, leading to a significant security crackdown.
UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder, stated that the agency is "deeply concerned by the reports that children arrested in connection with the recent public unrest in Iran remain in detention." He emphasized that while exact numbers and conditions are unverified, independent access to assess the situation, treatment, and well-being of detained children is crucial.
Beigbeder highlighted the well-documented adverse impacts of detention on young people, noting that children require specialized care and that deprivation of liberty can have lifelong consequences for their development and for society.
Children deprived of liberty must be treated with humanity and dignity, maintaining regular contact with their families, obligations binding under international law. UNICEF advocates for an end to child detention in all forms and the immediate release of children held in Iran following the recent unrest. As a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Iran is obligated to uphold children's rights.