527,000 refugees returned from Iran last year

KABUL (Pajhwok): Nearly 527,000 Afghan refugees were either deported from Iran or voluntarily returned to the country last year.

Key points

• Last year, 527,000 Afghan refugees returned to the country voluntarily or were forcibly sent back.
• Some refugees complain they are mistreated in Iran.
• The migration of Afghans has become an attractive business for smugglers.
• Analysts: Countries do not have the right to treat refugees against international laws.
• Analysts: The Islamic Emirate should address the problems of Afghan refugees through talks with Iran.
• An Afghan delegation visited Iran to sort out the problems of refugees in the neighbouring country.
• The Iranian government has previously said it is taking measures to provide facilities for Afghan refugees.

The Ministry of Refugee sand Repatriation says around seven million Afghan refugees are currently living in different countries.

Three million of them are living in Iran, as many in Pakistan and the rest in other countries around the world with legal residency documents.

Over the past four decades, a large number of Afghans travelled to Pakistan and Iran for work. But they faced ill-treatment due to lack of legal documents.

Information regarding the return of Afghan refugees on the MoRR Facebook page shows most of the refugees choose to come back from Iran.

Pajhwok Afghan News has compiled the data of last year’s (1401) returnees. Yhe figures suggest nearly 527,000 refugees either voluntarily returned or were deported from Iran.

About 5,5505 refugees returned in the first month of last year, 30,388 in the second, 46,065 in the third, 28,565 in the fourth, 44,585 in the 5^th, 43,521 in the 6^th, 28,626 in the 7^th, 78,774 in the 8^th, 30,972 in the 9^th, 45,135 in the 10^th and 46,458 returned in the 11^th month of last year.

Since the start of 2022 until October 8, 165,000 out of 265,000 Afghan refugees were forcibly returned from Iran while more than 109,000 voluntarily came back to their homeland.

Pajhwok’s findings show these returnees were expelled on 249 different days or they returned voluntarily.

Most of these refugees returned to the country April 5 last year. Of them 7,800 were forcibly sent back home and more than 4,800 returned voluntarily.

Complaints of mistreatment

Rohullah, an Afghan refugee deported in Iran, said he originally hailed from central Parwan province.

He told Pajhwok along with his family he had travelled to Iran after the political change in 2021. However, he was deported.

He recalled: “I was going to work from my house in Iran, when police arrested me. In workwear, I didn’t have a mobile phone. I told police my family is also here and I cannot go to Afghanistan alone, because my family does not have a guardian.

“But they did not accept my plea and took me to the border crossing, where I spent two days before I returned to Afghanistan.”

After returning to Afghanistan, Rohullah informed his family that he had been arrested and sent back home by Iranian police.

“Iranian police mistreat Afghans. Most of Afghans are held in their workwear or in the market. Their salaries remain unpaid by employers,” he alleged.

Rohullah said he must go back to Iran because his family was there.

Mansour, another refugee, was forcibly returned to Afghanistan from Iran about a month ago. “Afghans in groups are going to Turkey. Human smugglers lie to them that they would take them to Turkey through easy routes. This is untrue.”

He believed: “Afghans endure travelling difficult smuggling routes because of unemployment and poverty. If they have jobs inside the country, then no one is willing for migration.”

Immigration of Afghans had turned into a lucrative business for smugglers, according to the man, who asked the governments of Afghanistan and Iran to solve the problems of refugees.

Violation of international law

Zahidullah Amarkhel, an international affairs expert, argued many Afghans chose to leave their country due to economic problems, unemployment and search for a comfortable life.

According to him, it is the responsibility of governments to create jobs for the people, solve their problems and give all ethnic communities representation.

Amarkhel said that based on international immigration laws, everyone reserved the right to migration. Iran or any other country had no right to mistreat Afghans, he insisted.

He stressed the people exercising the right to migration must be respected. Iran should remain committed to these rights and must avoid mistreating Afghan refugees or deporting them, he maintained.

Amarkhel urged the Islamic Emirate to talk to the government of Iran about the problems of Afghan refugees in that country and ensure due facilities for them.

After the Afghan embassy in Tehran was handed over to the Islamic Emirate, a delegation from the MoRR visited the neighboring country to look into the problems of refugees there.

Pajhwok shared the issue of Afghan refugees with the Iranian embassy in Kabul, but it has not responded so far.

Iranian President’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Kazemi Qomi recently met Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi on Afghan refugees’ problems.

sa/mud