The silent wails of Rojhelati workers in Kurdistan Region

SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region - Fleeing the country’s crumbling economy and shrinking job market, hundreds of youth from Iran’s western Kurdish provinces (Rojhelat) have migrated towards the Kurdistan Region in recent years, only to find themselves swallowed by a merciless void of unsafe work environments, lack of official residence, and overwhelming disrespect and discrimination. 

The depreciation of the Iranian toman, the COVID pandemic, and crippling US sanctions have resulted in mass unemployment and accelerating inflation rates in Iran in recent years, especially in Rojhelat. These unfavorable circumstances have led hundreds of Iranian and Rojhelati youth to go to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in search of job opportunities and means to make a living. 

A large part of Iranian workers arrive in the Kurdistan Region on tourist visas, disqualifying them from many fundamental rights such as residence. Some are only bound to their employers through verbal agreements rather than through official contracts, meaning they have no legal leg to stand on in cases of mistreatment. 

After a long day’s work, the exhausted migrant workers, who barely earn a living wage, walk back to their 3,000-dinars-a-night motel rooms (less than two dollars), which, in addition to lacking any form of basic hygiene, are often shared among seven people.

Many stop by the street food vendors near Sulaimani’s Grand Mosque for a cheap sandwich, some tea, and a smoke.

Fardin Kawani from Sanandaj has been working as a tiler in Sulaimani for the past four years. He is 38-years-old but the wrinkles on his face and the white hairs on his head, physical traces of the overwhelming stress and fatigue that characterize his daily life, make him appear way older than he actually is.

Brushing the dust off his clothes while lighting a cigarette, Kawani spoke to Rudaw English about his experience working in the Kurdistan Region and the overall excruciating conditions of Rojhelati workers who embarked on the same journey as him. 

“I used to have a good job back at home, but I had to come here four years ago due to the inflation and the economy. I come to the Kurdistan Region on a tourist visa and I go back to Iran every month in order to renew it,” said Kawani. 

Kawani had a reasonably steady work experience during the first two years of his time in the Kurdistan Region, before his biggest fear materialized last year, when his employer refused to pay him for over six months and then threatened to kill him if he argued further.

“I worked for nearly six months and each month he would have a new excuse as to why he could not pay me, and I trusted him. I had worked the equivalent of around 5,000 dollars. Then, one day, my wife got sick and I had to go back to Sanandaj, but I had not paid my rent for a couple of months. I asked my employer if he could cover it for me, he got angry and said ‘absolutely not,’ before taking out his gun and threatening to shoot me if I argued with him.” 

Kawani added that he filed a complaint against the employer for his actions, but since he had no official contract there was no document proving that he worked for him in the first place. 

The tiler took a pause and cleared his throat as his eyes filled tears before continuing. 

“So I ignored him. What else could I have done? It is true that people here are Kurds too, but I have no one here and I am helpless. I can only hope that God punishes him for what he did to me.” 

The dark alleys next to the mosque draw a harrowing picture. Dozens of young men can be seen lying on the ground without any pillows or blankets, opting to sleep on the cold streets, just to save up the extra 3,000 dinars and send it to their families back in Rojhelat.

27-year-old Behzad hails from Marivan and has been working in Sulaimani for the past four years. “Walking down the alleys lined with these old motels, you can find at least 10 people sleeping on each side of the road.” 

“It is not only the [Rojhelat] men that came here, a lot of women also came and are now working as prostitutes,” Behzad told Rudaw English.

He says nothing pains him more than being ridiculed and disrespected for being associated with the Rojhelati sex workers. 

“When my employer, who is my age, brings around an Iranian girl for fun and then brags about it to me, it is like plunging a dagger through my heart, but there is nothing I can do. Such is life. Once you are down on your knees, everyone starts taking advantage of you.” 

There are nearly 100,000 foreign workers in the Kurdistan Region, according to data from the Region’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs last year, yet no official figure exists when it comes to the number of Rojhelati or Iranian workers in the Region. 

Many Rojhelati workers have lost their lives or suffered lifelong injuries after tragic accidents endured while working unsafe jobs in the Kurdistan Region. The victims of such accidents are often not entitled to any compensation as they have no contracts or insurance.