FEROZKOH (Pajhwok): Poverty and unemployment have driven some young men from Ghor province to Iran in search of work and a means of supporting their families.
However, the hardships of migration, mistreatment by employers, arrest and deportation have shattered their hopes, forcing them to return home with bitter memories.
Unemployment and poverty remain among the major challenges facing young people in Ghor and other Afghan provinces after four decades of war and its consequences. The lack of job opportunities has prompted some to migrate in search of work and ways to support their families.
Stories of young men from Ghor
Abdul Karim, 28, a resident of Dolina district in Ghor, is one of these young men. Last year, amid economic hardship and hoping to find work and support his family, he embarked on an irregular journey to Iran.
He had hoped to earn an income abroad, improve his family’s financial situation and eventually return home with savings. However, the experience was far more difficult than he had imagined.
“When I left home, I thought that if I endured the hardships of the journey, I would find work, earn some money and help my family. I did not want my family and me to continue living in poverty. My only wish was to return home one day with something to show for my efforts,” he said.
He said that after reaching Nimroz, he and three friends, guided by a human smuggler, attempted to enter Iran illegally.
The fear of arrest, lack of money, separation from their families and uncertainty about the future placed considerable psychological pressure on him and his companions during the journey, he added.
Despite the difficult conditions, the four men boarded a vehicle designed to carry only eight passengers. Because they had no other option, 13 people were crammed inside.
“When we set off, none of us knew what difficulties lay ahead. All we could think about was reaching Iran and finding work. We left out of necessity, not by choice. Each of us wanted to earn enough to put food on our family’s table,” he said.
After five days and nights of travelling, lengthy walks and enduring numerous hardships, they eventually crossed the border into Iran, he added.
Abdul Karim said he could not find work immediately after arriving in Iran. However, after 20 days, he secured a job as a security guard at a company.
He said that after two months, he began facing insulting and humiliating treatment from the company owner and eventually left the job after three months.
“The company owner used to call me things like ‘dirty Afghan’ and threatened to report me to the police. He forced me to do tasks that were not part of my job. I felt uncomfortable and eventually fled the company after three months,” he said.
The young man added that, because of his employer’s mistreatment and insults, he was unable to recover even half of the wages he had earned during those three months.
After leaving the company, he went to stay with friends and later joined them in construction work to earn money and support his family.
Abdul Karim said he worked in construction for about eight months. Just as his living conditions had begun to improve, Iranian police arrested him while he was at work.
He said he was transferred to a detention centre, where detainees were forced to clean the facility, including its toilets.
“We were forced to clean the camp and even wash the toilets. We did these things because we had no choice. During our detention, we were subjected to insulting and humiliating treatment,” he said.
Abdul Karim said he had returned to Afghanistan and was now raising sheep in his home area.
He said he had no intention of going to Iran for work again and urged other young people to consider the risks before attempting irregular migration and to seek employment through legal channels.
Abdul Hayi, another young man from Ghor, decided to travel to Iran four years ago because of economic difficulties and in the hope of finding work to cover his family’s expenses.
However, he said the journey not only failed to resolve his financial problems but also brought him bitter experiences.
He chose an irregular route to reach Iran, a journey he said was fraught with danger.
Crossing rough and mountainous terrain, walking long distances, hunger, thirst, extreme exhaustion, fear of being caught by border forces and the risk of encountering armed individuals and smugglers were among the difficulties he faced along the way.
After enduring these hardships, Abdul Hayi eventually reached Iran and worked as a labourer in Tehran for about nine months.
He said that despite difficult economic conditions and regional tensions and conflicts, he worked hard to send money to his family.
However, his efforts came to nothing. He said Iranian police arrested him one day while he was in Tehran.
He added that he was transferred to a detention centre and held for about two weeks before being deported to Afghanistan. He also alleged that all the money he had earned through his labour was taken from him.
Now back in Afghanistan, Abdul Hayi is forced to take on physically demanding daily labour to support his family. However, his meagre earnings barely cover their basic needs.
Legal and social expert calls for more job opportunities
Farid Ahmad Ansar, a legal expert and social activist, said irregular migration exposed Afghan migrants not only to life-threatening dangers along smuggling routes but also to exploitation, arrest and mistreatment.
He said many Afghan migrants faced dangers on their way to Iran, including crossing difficult mountainous routes, hunger and thirst, encounters with smugglers, theft of their money and even the risk of death.
He criticised what he described as violence, insults, humiliation and beatings of some Afghan migrants by Iranian forces. He said there were reports of migrants being detained and mistreated, transferred to camps and deported.
Ansar said migrants’ human dignity and fundamental rights must be respected during detention and deportation, adding that no one should be subjected to violence, humiliation or inhuman treatment simply for lacking residency documents.
“To prevent such incidents from recurring, employment opportunities and economic prospects must be created and expanded inside the country so that young people are not forced by poverty and unemployment to take dangerous irregular migration routes,” he said.
Official: Around 100 families have returned to Ghor from Iran
Isa Iqbali, spokesman for the Ghor Department of Refugees and Repatriation, said that around 100 families, in addition to dozens of individuals, had been deported from Iran and returned to the province during the current year.
He added that assistance had been provided to these families in cooperation with several organisations.
“During the current year, in cooperation with aid organisations, we distributed food supplies, including cooking oil, rice, flour, beans and other food items, to 2,000 families. These included returning migrants, poor families, people with disabilities and internally displaced people,” he said.
He added that efforts were under way to provide winter assistance to families returning from Iran and Pakistan, as well as other vulnerable households, during the coming winter.
According to Iqbali, relevant departments of the Islamic Emirate in Ghor were working to create employment opportunities for young people through various programmes.
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