Afghanistan: Refugees repatriated with international assistance

From RFE/RL Iran Report Volume 3 , Number 22
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on 23 May that some 18,000 Afghan refugees have returned home from Iran over the past six weeks under a joint Iranian-United Nations program. 12,000 others who fear going back have filed claims at screening centers in Iran.

Hassan Parvar, director general of foreign nationals and expatriate affairs in Khuzestan Province, said on 13 May that Afghan refugees who do not hold resident status have until 11 October to go home. Those who do have residency permits are being encouraged to leave, too. Parvar said that although there are two million Afghan refugees in Iran, only 1.4 million are officially registered. Repatriation facilities have been made available in Tehran, Mashhad, and Zahedan. Ahmad Ahmadzadeh, director general of foreign nationals and expatriate affairs in Bushehr, warned on 11 May that those who did not leave voluntarily would be "dealt with strictly according to the national laws for illegal aliens," according to IRNA.

Iran is not facing this problem on its own; the international community is also involved. Responding to reports that the refugees are being forcibly repatriated, a Foreign Ministry official told state radio on 14 May that the UNHCR is cooperating with Iran. Mohammad Al-Hadid, head of the Jordanian Red Crescent Society, will mediate between Iran and Afghanistan regarding U.S. assistance to the Afghan refugees. He told Amman's "Al-Ray" on 17 May that he will visit Iran and Afghanistan in July to become familiar with the refugees' needs.

The agreement for repatriating the refugees was signed in February, and Isfahan Province director general of foreign nationals and expatriate affairs Morteza Lotfollah Khajou told IRNA on 2 May that he expected 3,000 refugees a month would be repatriated. Indeed, the numbers have been impressive. From 10 April to 18 May, 7,000 of them had returned to Afghanistan from a camp near Mashhad, a UNHCR official told Iranian state radio. Some 1,100 refugees in Sistan va Baluchistan Province had registered for repatriation, provincial director general of foreign nationals and expatriate affairs Ali Shabani told IRNA on 17 May. And Seyyed Mahmud Musavi, director general of foreign nationals and expatriate affairs in Fars Province, told IRNA on 8 May that 500 Afghans had registered for repatriation.

But this is only one side of the coin. In mid-March, it was reported that the police were rounding up Afghan refugees and forcibly repatriating them. Witnesses told AFP of police sweeps and spot-checks of identity cards. The Afghans were then bussed to Afghanistan's western provinces. AFP reported that 90,000 Afghans had been forcibly repatriated in the last year. UNHCR spokesman Jacques Franquin told Reuters that "We have complained to the authorities, that is, expressed our concern to President Khatami and relevant authorities... We were hoping for a positive answer, but it seems deportations are still going on."

Iranian Interior Ministry official Mohammad Reza Rostami denied that there were any mass deportations. He told IRNA that the sweeps were needed to round up burglars, drug addicts, felons, and the indigent prior to the Iranian new year. Rostami said only a few of these people were undocumented Afghans.

But it is clear that Iran is keen to see the last of the refugees because of the costs they impose. Minister of Health, Treatment, & Medical Education Mohammad Farhadi complained to a UNHCR official in February about the expense of caring for all the refugees. Mohsen Mehr Alizadeh, governor-general of Khorasan Province, asked the UNHCR for international assistance in repatriating the refugees. Iran also has participated in international fora, such as a March conference in Mecca and a May seminar in Dushanbe, that are trying to find ways to settle the conflict in Afghanistan, recognizing that this is a major reason why the refugees are reluctant to go back.

There also is resentment about the Afghan refugees' impact on employment. "These foreign national have taken job opportunities that belong to our dear compatriots," "Kar va Kargar" noted on 16 April. The pro-labor daily complained that the refugees, particularly in the eastern and southeastern parts of the country, are also involved in "unacceptable economic activities, such as trafficking narcotic drugs." Their presence is "considered to be one of the obstacles to economic and human development and advancement," so "we hope that the process of returning the foreign nationals to their countries will be accelerated." (Bill Samii)