TEHRAN -- The managing director of the Welfare Organization, Dr. Mohammad-Reza Rah-Chamani, announced, "Forty-one centers have been established for street children nationwide. The Social Council approved the gathering of street children as the duty of the Welfare Organization three years ago and considers it one of the main tasks of the organization. Some of the centers are for boys and some for girls."

He added that there are currently three homes for runaway girls in Tehran, housing 20-25 girls, which are supervised by the Welfare Organization.

He said that there are also five centers for housing street children with another under construction in Tehran.

Stressing the need to separate juvenile delinquent street children from runaways and other street children, he added that the Welfare Organization plans to establish "hotels of health" for child laborers who have migrated from small towns and rural areas to protect them from exploitation, saying the first "hotel of health" has been set up in southeast Tehran, with the capacity to house 30 children. Dr. Rah-Chamani went on to say, "We are going to establish 10 more hotels of health by the end of the year

[March 20, 2003] in the cities of Rasht, Mashhad, Shiraz, Isfahan and Tehran. These children can present themselves to the centers and will be issued ID cards so that they are not apprehended by the Law Enforcement Forces."