Human Rights Watch protests Iran’s deportation of Afghan refugees

Kabul, Nov 15 (UNI) Iran has been deporting thousands of Afghan refugees who poured into the country following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August. Human Rights Watch has protested Tehran’s move and urged the UN to intervene.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that 1,031,757 Afghan refugees have been deported by Iran this year, including 28,000 in just the last week of October.

Iran shares a 900-km border with Afghanistan. Following the Taliban takeover and the chaotic withdrawal of US troops in late August, the Iranian government offered Afghan civilians temporary shelter in three provinces along its eastern border. It later closed the border to Afghans arriving without correct documentation.

IOM said in a statement that the increasing number of deportations was leading Afghanistan towards more challenges.

“The majority were deported, returning to Afghanistan often broke and broken, in need of health support, food and rest,” said IOM director general Antonio Vitorino.

“The task of reuniting with family and reintegrating into communities — especially for those who have been in Iran or Pakistan for years — is tremendously difficult considering the high levels of unemployment and food insecurity,” Vitorino added.

Iran’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, said that Tehran was a “good host for Afghan refugees,” but it doesn’t have the capacity to host more refugees.

“Due to the rapid political changes, a massive wave of Afghan refugees came to our borders. We should make a program to prevent these migrations. We should seek a resolution,” said Qomi.

The Islamic Emirate earlier called on the international community to help with Afghanistan’s economy in order to prevent another wave of illegal migrants to foreign countries.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report expressed concerns over the problems of Afghan refugees on the borders of neighbouring and European countries.

“The Iranian government took some steps towards our citizens which are clearly in contrast with the UN international convention,” said Lal Gul Lal, head of the Afghan HRW on Monday. “We strongly condemn the remarks of the Iran government and call on the UN to prevent Iran’s actions against migrants.”

This comes as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provided cash for at least 5,000 war- and drought-displaced families in the west of Afghanistan.

The UN organization provided each of the families with 265 dollars in cash.
The officials within the provincial refugee department said that the aid would help the displaced families to return to their permanent residences

Meanwhile, in Tehran, Mohammad-Taqi Hashemi, the director general of Bureau of Aliens and Foreign Immigrants of Razavi Khorasan Province, told IRNA news agency that all countries in the world closed their borders to the people displaced in Afghanistan and no country accepted them except for Iran.

He said that Iran has been hit by monetary and financial crisis due to the cruel sanctions imposed by the US against the Iranian nation, and added that other countries deny even giving Iran access to its own funds abroad.

Iran’s Permanent Committee on Asylum has held two meetings in September and October to show consideration for Afghan immigrants and grant them asylum if they qualify, otherwise respectfully send them back to their country, the official said.

He also said that Razavi Khorasan Province has sent two shipments of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan so far, with the last one containing 50 tons of rice, eight tons of flour, 500 blankets, a truck-load of medicines, and two tons of cooking oil.