Deadly Toll Rises For Kolbars In Iran's Western Border Regions

A kolbar is a worker who carries goods on his/her back across the borders of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey legally or illegally.
A kolbar is a worker who carries goods on his/her back across the borders of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey legally or illegally.

In the last Iranian year, 44 kolbars have lost their lives with 400 more sustained serious injuries as they work on the Iran-Iraq border, a 90 percent year on year rise.

The Kurdish workers are used to transport goods across the mountainous border, most of whom live below the poverty line, in the direct line of fire on the treacherous border zone.

The Kolbars regularly face direct shootings by Iran's military forces, landmine explosions, harsh weather conditions, fatal falls from heights, and drowning incidents.

Of the injured kolbars, 337 suffered wounds from direct shootings by the military forces of the Islamic Republic, while two were injured by Iraqi military gunfire. Kolbar News reveals that 37 of the victims were under the age of 18, classified as minors.

The statistics center of Kurdpa Human Rights Organization documented that from 2012 to 2023, at least 2,206 kolbars were either killed or injured. Out of those, 589 lost their lives, and 1,617 sustained injuries.

Kolbar News last year reported that in the first half of 2023 alone, 61 Kolbars lost their lives in border areas and inter-road routes of West Azarbaijan, Kordestan, and Kermanshah provinces.

Human rights organizations, along with some members of parliament, have consistently emphasized that Kurdish citizens in the western regions of Iran resort to the job as a means of survival amidst rampant poverty.