The plight of Iran’s mountain couriers is once again under the spotlight after the Islamic Republic’s border guards shot dead at least 15 of them this summer, local officials said.

In Iranian Kurdistan, mountain couriers are relied on to carry commodities across the Iraqi border. They are locally known as a “kolbar,” a Kurdish word meaning someone carrying heavy loads over their shoulders. In recent years, the term has come to be used for young Kurds who cross the rugged mountains with essential goods in a region battered by unemployment, poverty and a host of other maladies.

Under Iranian law, the activity is considered smuggling and tantamount to border trespassing, an argument Iranian authorities use to justify shootings that target the couriers. The deadly practice has been in place over the past several years despite calls from human rights groups who see the killings as part of the Islamic Republic’s overall systematic violation of the rights of the Kurdish minority.

Tough economic conditions in the rocky border area have only been hardened by skyrocketing unemployment and perceived injustice in the distribution of opportunities, increasingly pushing young Kurds toward the treacherous journey.