Before noon on Saturday, at the ceremony of awarding the National Youthful Population Award, while congratulating the arrival of Imam Reza's (PBUH) birthday, Dr Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi expressed satisfaction at attending a meeting whose theme and focus is the family and the youthful population and described paying attention to these issues as one of the cultural and religious emphasis in Islamic Iran, the approved and announced policies of the system and the country's serious need.
Emphasising the importance of explaining, justifying and persuading public opinion and the responsibility of all writers and speakers, educational and cultural departments and all those who have the influence of words in this field, the President said, “We need to open mental knots in the field of family formation, childbearing and increasing the population and this matter needs explanation and persuasion”.
Referring to the statement of one of the speakers in this meeting that we should think about big houses to encourage families to have children, Dr Raisi said, “What we are witnessing in reality is contrary to this statement and if we look at the current situation, we will see that there are fewer children in large houses in the north of the city than in small houses in the south of the city, so a large house is not a necessary requirement for having more children”.
Stating that it is possible to have a child even with limited means, the President clarified, “The statement that we cannot have more children until we have an extra room is not defensible. Starting a family and having children definitely requires adequate housing and facilities, but it is not a correct belief that these are the only grounds for having children”.
Dr Raisi added, “The life experience of our parents and ancestors shows that it is possible to live well in small houses where a family with several children lived in each room. Of course, this does not mean that we have to live like this today, today's lifestyles have changed compared to the past, but we must try to keep the culture of contentment alive among people”.
The President pointed out, “Having children and population requires both culture building and persuasion of public opinion; It is very necessary to open the mental knots in this field”.
Referring to some details and items included in the Youthful Law, Dr Raisi said, “The implementation of this law is mandatory for the government, but I have always emphasised to the officials to continuously and accurately check the effectiveness of the various items included in this law”.
While appreciating the measures taken by the administrative and executive bodies for the implementation of the Youthful Law, the President pointed out the importance of the role of the National Population Headquarters in monitoring the quality of the implementation of this law and said, “The National Population Headquarters, in line with the full implementation of the Youthful Population Law, should monitor the performance of the institutions in relation to the implementation of this law in quarterly manner”.
Dr Raisi further added, “A young population and an efficient young workforce means knowledge-based work, production growth, increased security, social vitality and promotion of culture”.
The President further mentioned the issue of illegal abortion as one of the important obstacles to population growth and said, “The statistics published in this regard are alarming, which makes it necessary to deal seriously with illegal and unlicensed cases from the doctor”.
Dr Raisi described persuading and informing young couples about the legal and social effects of abortion as one of the effective solutions to reduce this bad phenomenon and stated, “Young couples should know that committing this act without permission and illegally is an example of suicide”.
The President also described the strength and seriousness in the implementation of the law as another important factor in reducing the number of abortions and asked the judicial system and government institutions related to this matter to monitor it.
Dr Raisi continued referring to the measures taken by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in the Popular Administration, including free treatment of infertile couples with the development of infertility treatment centres throughout the country, free treatment of children under 7 years of age, and allocating food packages for mothers with three-year-old infants.
Referring to the planning of the enemies to downplay the importance of the family institution by changing the perception of the young generation, the President said, “Population and family is a very important issue, especially in Iranian culture and society, and for this reason, I devoted one of the important points of my speech at the United Nations General Assembly to this issue”.
Dr Raisi continued to mention the removal of obstacles and livelihood concerns of families in forming a family and having children as one of the government's plans to realise youthful population in the country and added, “The reason for honouring the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development in this conference is the efforts of the honourable minister to provide housing to families with children as well as young couples”.
The President also said, “Unfortunately, due to lack of attention to the issue of housing, the country's needs in this field have not been met in the past years, and now we are faced with a large number of demand for housing”.
Dr Raisi also referred to the emphasis of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution regarding the participation of the people in the executive affairs of the country and described the success of the implementation of the population law to be dependent on the participation of the people in this field.
In the end, the President also expressed his hope that the holding of this conference and the actions of the Population Headquarters as well as the responsible institutions will be effective in the growth of the population, childbearing and support for mothers and children.