"On Sunday and Wednesday, the government cabinet discussed economic activities at the borders and next Sunday they will announce a plan," Hussein Firozy, deputy of economic affairs and human capital of Kurdistan province, told IRNA.
"Based on this plan, porters in the borders of Baneh, Marivan, and Sarvabad can start their economic activities,” he said.
Kolbar are semi-official cross-border porters, carrying goods across the mountainous border between the Kurdistan Region and Iran on their backs. Many are compelled to the dangerous job because of lack of employment in the Kurdish provinces that are among the poorest in Iran.
Tehran has tried to regulate the profession by issuing cards. Based on official data, 68,000 people have kolbar ID cards in Kurdistan province.
Firozy asked local officials in Baneh, Marivan, and Sarvabad to open their offices to kolbars wanting to activate their ID cards.
In April, shopkeepers in Kurdish cities began a protest, closing their stores for weeks in protest of closures of the unofficial border crossings that had put thousands of kolbars out of work and raised prices of market goods.
Protesters in Baneh stretched tablecloths along the streets showing their empty tables and inability to feed their families.
The kolbar profession is a dangerous one. They traverse mountainous terrain with heavy loads on their backs, risk legacy mines from the Iran-Iraq war, and occasionally come under fire from Iranian forces.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, that monitors rights abuses in Iranian Kurdistan, reported that in the last two weeks, four kolbars were killed by Iranian forces and seven wounded.
