Since April 21, 2007, ninety thousand Afghan refugees have been forcibly removed from Iran.  As a result of Iran’s toughened stance on illegal immigrants, thousands of Afghanis, mostly men, have been arrested and put on buses to Herat, Afghanistan.  While most of the deportees were single men, almost 22,000 have been families.  Some have been separated from their spouses and children, and in some cases, some children have been deported alone.

Afghanis comprise the second largest refugee group in the world. Millions left their home during the Soviet invasion and more left Afghanistan during the Taliban regime that followed.  Since 2001 and the fall of the Taliban, 3.5 million Afghans repatriated and returned home.  The UN High Commissioner for Refugees described three ways refugees are returning from Iran.  First, voluntary repatriation; where registered refugees are given a repatriation package ($100 (US)/person or $500 (US)/family of five) to facilitate the relocation process. Second, spontaneous return; where unregistered (and therefore illegal) refugees chose to return to Afghanistan.  They are given time to gain proper certification to return.  The third method is deportation; where illegal refugees are forced to return.

Since 2002, 860,000 refugees have left Iran and returned to Afghanistan.  However, 915,000 Afghani refugees still reside in Iran. Some entered illegally.  Some entered with a visa that has now expired.  Some are legal refugees who lack the proper papers and therefore are deemed illegal by the Iranian government.

Beginning on April 21, Iran began its new two pronged strategy to decrease the number of Afghani refugees. The first prong is to provide incentives, such as repatriation packages or facilitating illegal refugees in getting the proper return papers, to encourage refugees to return.  The second prong is to crack down on illegal immigrants by arresting and deporting them. 

Iran and Pakistan are homes of largest population of Afghani refugees. Currently, Iran spends approximately $7 billion a year to support their Afghani refugee population.  While the UN agrees that Iran has the right to address the matter of illegal immigrants in their countries, but appeals that it is done in a humane manner.

For more information please see:

BBC:  “Expelled from Iran – Refugee Misery”  8 June 2007.

UNHCR:  “Return to Afghanistan”  30 May 2007.