Kolbars are semi-legal porters who transport untaxed goods across the Kurdistan Region-Iran border and sometimes the Iran-Turkey border. They are constantly targeted by Iranian border guards and are sometimes victims of natural disasters.
“Eight kolbars were killed and five were injured,” the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported, with the majority of the killings occurring along the border of Iran’s Kurdistan province.
The fatality count doubled that of April, during which four kolbars lost their lives.
Many kolbars are pushed into the profession by poverty and a lack of alternative employment, particularly in Iran's impoverished Kurdish provinces.
This past winter has been exceptionally tragic for Iran’s impoverished kolbars who have lost their lives because of the extreme conditions and natural disasters, or were killed or wounded by Iranian border guards. Many were also treated with hostility by Iraqi border guards. Iran and Iraq have increased security along the border in the past year in an effort to limit the activities of Kurdish-Iranian groups who are opposed to the Islamic republic regime.
In its annual report on human rights violations in Iran for 2023, the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network said that a total of 29 kolbars died last year. At least 19 of them were killed by Iranian border guards.
Hengaw estimated 33 kolbars lost their lives and 176 others were wounded as a result of direct fire from Iranian forces in 2023 and at least 35 fell victim to accidents.
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