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Tehran, Iran – The wave of Afghan refugees and migrants being despatched again from Iran has not stopped, with greater than 410,000 being pushed out because the finish of the 12-day war with Israel on June 24.
Greater than 1.5 million Afghan refugees and migrants have been despatched again in 2025, based on the United Nations’ Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM), whereas the Purple Cross says multiple million individuals extra could possibly be despatched again by the top of the yr.
Iran has been internet hosting Afghans for many years. Whereas it has periodically expelled irregular arrivals, it has now taken its efforts to unprecedented ranges after the struggle with Israel that killed greater than 1,000 individuals in Iran, many of them civilians.
Iran has additionally been constructing a wall alongside its huge jap borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan to stem the circulate of irregular migration, and smuggled medication and gasoline.
The parliament can be planning for a nationwide migration organisation that may take over its efforts to crack down on irregular migration.
‘I’m afraid’
“I really feel like we’re being singled out as a result of we’re simple targets and don’t have many choices,” mentioned Ahmad*, a 27-year-old undocumented Afghan migrant who got here to Iran 4 years in the past.
Like others, he needed to work development and guide labour jobs earlier than managing to get employed because the custodian of an previous residential constructing within the western a part of the capital, Tehran.
On the present charge of Iran’s heavily devalued currency, he will get paid the equal of about $80 a month, which is wired to the financial institution card of an Iranian citizen as a result of he can’t have an account in his title.
He has a small spot the place he can sleep within the constructing and tries to ship cash to his household in Afghanistan every time attainable.
“I don’t actually go away the constructing that a lot as a result of I’m afraid I’ll be despatched again. I don’t know the way for much longer I can reside like this,” he informed Al Jazeera.
Vahid Golikani, who heads the international nationals’ division of the governor’s workplace in Tehran, informed state media final week that undocumented migrants should not be employed to guard native labour.
Day by day returns, which embrace expulsions and voluntary returns, climbed steeply after the beginning of the struggle, with common each day returns exceeding 29,600 within the week beginning July 10, mentioned Mai Sato, UN particular rapporteur on the state of affairs of human rights in Iran.
She was amongst 4 particular rapporteurs who decried the mass returns on Thursday, including their voice to rights organisations comparable to Amnesty Worldwide.
“Afghanistan stays unsafe below Taliban rule. These mass returns violate worldwide regulation and put weak individuals, particularly ladies, youngsters, and minorities, at extreme threat of persecution and violence,” Sato mentioned.
Alleged safety dangers
Authorities and state media have mentioned undocumented immigrants might pose a safety threat, alleging that a few of them had been paid by Israel to hold out duties inside Iran.
Whereas state tv has aired confessions from a handful of unidentified imprisoned Afghans, however their numbers don’t appear to match the size of the expulsions.
The televised confessions featured males with coated eyes and blurred-out faces saying they’d despatched images and knowledge on-line to nameless handlers linked with Mossad.
Tons of of Iranians have additionally been arrested on suspicion of working for Israel, and several other Iranians have been executed over the previous weeks as the federal government works to increase legal punishments for spying.
Mohammad Mannan Raeesi, a member of parliament from the ultraconservative metropolis of Qom, mentioned throughout a state tv interview final week, “We don’t have a single migrant from Afghanistan among the many Israeli spies.”
He identified that some Afghans have fought and died for Iran, and that makes an attempt to expel irregular arrivals ought to keep away from xenophobia.
Financial pressures
Earlier than the most recent wave of compelled returns, Iranian authorities reported the official variety of Afghan refugees and migrants at a whopping 6.1 million, with many speculating the actual quantity was a lot greater.
Solely about 780,000 have been given official refugee standing by the federal government.
Supporting hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants, common and irregular, takes a toll on a authorities that spends billions yearly on hidden subsidies on necessities like gasoline, electrical energy and bread for everybody within the nation.
Since 2021, there have been complaints amongst some Iranians concerning the financial impression of internet hosting hundreds of thousands who poured into Iran unchecked within the aftermath of the Taliban’s chaotic takeover of Afghanistan.
Amid growing hostility in direction of the Afghan arrivals over the previous years, native newspapers and social media have more and more highlighted stories of crimes like theft and rape allegedly dedicated by Afghan migrants. Nevertheless, no official statistics on such crimes have been launched.
That has not stopped some Iranians, together with a lot of nameless accounts on-line, from cheering on the mass returns, with common hashtags in Farsi on X and different social media portraying the returns as a “nationwide demand”.
Once more, there are not any dependable statistics or surveys that present what portion of the Iranian inhabitants backs the transfer, or below what circumstances.
Some tearful migrants informed Afghan media after being returned from Iran that safety forces beat or humiliated them whereas placing them on buses to the border.
Others mentioned they had been abruptly deported with solely the garments on their again, and had been unable to get their final paycheques, financial savings, or downpayments made for his or her rented properties.
A few of these with authorized documentation haven’t been spared, as stories emerged in latest weeks of Afghan refugees and migrants being deported after having their paperwork shredded by police.
Authorities spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani and Inside Minister Eskandar Momeni have individually mentioned the federal government is simply in search of undocumented migrants.
“In instances the place authorized residents have been deported, these situations have been investigated,” Momeni mentioned final week, including that over 70 p.c of these returned got here ahead voluntarily after the federal government set a deadline to go away for early July.
‘I sense lots of anger among the many individuals’
For these Afghans who stay in Iran, a bunch of different restrictions make life tough.
They’re barred from getting into dozens of Iranian cities. Their work permits might not be renewed yearly, or the renewal charges could possibly be hiked out of the blue. They’re unable to purchase property, automobiles and even SIM playing cards for his or her cellphones.
They’re seldom given citizenship and face difficulties in getting their youngsters into Iranian faculties.
Zahra Aazim, a 22-year-old instructor and video editor of Afghan origin primarily based in Tehran, mentioned she didn’t really really feel the extent of the restrictions related to residing in Iran for Afghans till a couple of years in the past.
Her household migrated to Iran about 45 years in the past, shortly after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution that introduced the incumbent theocratic institution to energy.
“What actually bugs me is the truth that I used to be born in Iran, and my household has been residing right here for over 4 many years, however I’m nonetheless unable to get one thing as primary as a driver’s licence.
“That’s to not point out elementary paperwork like a nationwide ID card or an Iran-issued delivery certificates,” she informed Al Jazeera.
By regulation, these paperwork are reserved for Iranian nationals. Afghan-origin individuals can apply if their mom is Iranian or if they’re a girl married to an Iranian man.
Aazim mentioned Iran’s guidelines have solely gotten stricter through the years. However issues took a pointy flip after the struggle, and she or he has acquired a whole bunch of threatening or insulting messages on-line since.
“I’ve been listening to from different Afghan-origin mates in Iran … that that is now not a spot the place we will reside,” she mentioned.
“A buddy known as me with the identical message after the struggle. I assumed she meant she’s serious about transferring to a different nation or going again to Afghanistan. I by no means thought her final resort can be [taking her own life].”
Aazim additionally mentioned her 23-year-old brother was taken by police from a Tehran cafe – and later launched – on suspicion of espionage.
The incident, together with movies of violence against Afghans which can be circulating on social media, has made her really feel unsafe.
“I sense lots of anger among the many Iranian individuals, even in a few of my Iranian mates. When you may’t lash out towards these in energy above, you begin to search for individuals at decrease ranges in charge,” she mentioned.
“I’m not saying don’t take any motion when you’ve got safety considerations about Afghan migrants … I simply want they might deal with us respectfully.
“Respect has nothing to do with nationality, ethnicity or geography.”
*Title has been modified for the person’s safety.
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