UNICEF calls for release of children detained during Iran protests

The unrest erupted in late December 2025 in cities across Iran over soaring inflation, rising food prices and the collapse of the national currency, resulting in a deadly and widespread security crackdown.

In a statement on Thursday, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder said the agency was “deeply concerned by the reports that children arrested in connection with the recent public unrest in Iran remain in detention.”

“While the number of children currently detained, or the conditions of their detention cannot be verified, we urge that immediate, independent access be granted to all detained children to assess their situation, treatment, and well-being,” he said.

Lasting consequences

Mr. Beigbeder stressed that detention can have lasting consequences for young people.

“The adverse impact of detention and incarceration on children is well documented. Children are not ‘little adults,’ they require special care. Deprivation of liberty entails life lasting consequences to the development of the child, but also for the future of the society overall.”

He added that children deprived of their liberty “must be treated with humanity and dignity and enabled to maintain regular contact with their families,” calling these “binding obligations under international law.”

UNICEF urged “an end to the detention of children in all its forms and the immediate release of the children detained in Iran following the most recent public unrest.”

The agency also noted that Iran is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and is therefore obligated to “respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children.”

Regional tensions

Meanwhile, at UN Headquarters in New York, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the Secretary-General was “very concerned about the military buildup we’re seeing” in the Persian Gulf, including war games and training exercises.

Responding to a question during his regular noon briefing, he said that the UN continues to encourage both Iran and the United States to pursue discussions facilitated by Oman.