Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Uncertainty; the Top Concern of Afghan Refugees in Iran

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Uncertainty; the Top Concern of Afghan Refugees in Iran

Afghanistan has a great history, a history full of victory and pride, but that is restricted to history papers and books. At present, Afghan nation ranks very high amongst the poor and miserable nations of the world. No criticism is diverted towards the people but towards the political and religious leaders. It has been very long time since people have been dreaming of peace, political stability and economic growth. The condition of security has been at its worst for many decades. People have no other option but to flee the country and to search for an alternative way to live their lives and that is emigration via which at least people can feed their children and keep their families alive.

Though migration and asylum seeking is said to be the universal right of every individual regardless of the ethnicity, race, country and religion; nowadays it is not welcomed and even in some parts of the world it is practically considered as a crime.

In the context of humanity not only everyone has the right to secure his and his family's' life but also is responsible to assure the future of his children. Also all human societies are responsible to ensure the safety of every human being. Emigration has coexisted with the human societies, however; it has had its different models and types in various countries of the world. The trend has speeded up in modern world. Some of the investigators believe that its part of a bigger movement which is called globalization. 

The factors of immigration and emigration have been named as push and pull factors. Push factors are a set of negative existing factors in living country which push the immigrant to live the country. Pull factors unlike the push factors are a set of positive factors like; good security and better finance in the targeted country which attracts the emigrant to enter there. 

For Afghan refugees the push factors have had the upper hand because the vast majority of the afghan refugees fled the country to remain alive. They didn't have any alternative. It was not an optional selection for them but an obligation. They migrated from their mother land so that they could rescue their families. 

More than one million Afghan refugees and illegal migrants, who fled Afghanistan since the 1980s, are currently living in Iran. This is just the half number of the Afghan refugees and emigrants lived in Iran in earlier years. In 1992 a report published by the United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) estimated that there were about 2.8 million Afghans in Iran. The report added that only 10% of them were living in refugee camps. The Iranian government received a little aid also from the international community for their efforts for refugees.

In 1980s when the Soviet war in Afghanistan sparked an emigration flood started in Afghanistan which is flowing since then. The trend has had different paces but it has never stopped. It was not just the soviet war that made Afghans leave their homeland and their properties, but also the subsequent long civil war which took place after the defeat of soviet army and collapse of leftist regime of Doctor Najeebullah. The two and half decade long civil war not only allowed the refugees to return home but also added to the number of them.   

During the Soviet war and civil war in Afghanistan millions of Afghan from all across the country fled the war and rushed towards the borders of neighboring countries. Like other neighbors of Afghanistan, Iran also opened its border Gates for Afghan refugees. Thus Pakistan and Iran became the home for millions of Afghan refugees.

After the Islamic revolution in Iran which took place parallelly with soviet war in Afghanistan, Iran began to recognize the listed Afghan migrant workers and refugees as legal. So they issued them blue cards to indicate their status entitling them to free primary and secondary education. However; there were restrictions for them. For instance they were not allowed to own business. But after the collapse of Najeebullah's leftist government, Iran began to appreciate the repatriation of refugees under the supervisory of UNHCR. Most of the Afghans were reluctant to repatriate. By the passage of time the Iranian government changed its approach and began to force the refugees to live Iran.

As most of the Afghan refugees in Iran are undocumented and illegal, a vast number of them have been forcefully deported to Afghanistan.  Many of them claimed of abuses and torture by the Iranian police. There are several thousands of Afghan prisoners in Iranian jails. Many of the prisoners are facing death penalty. Some of them have been even executed by hanging in public. 

Right to education, which forms one of the articles of human rights and is one of the primary rights of a migrant, has been very hard for Afghan refugees in Iran. Only few of them have been able to educate their children. Even the children of card holders were not enlisted in schools by 2010.  The writer asked some of them what their main concerns were. Most of them were worried about the uncertainties in Afghanistan and the future of their children. Sayed Jawad one of the documented Afghan emigrants told the writer that after the election of 1378 the Iranian government eased its educational policy a little bit for Afghans and allowed the documented Afghan emigrants to enroll their children at schools.  He said despite having the blue card his children were not enrolled in school for many years. He said; "they were worried about the future of their children."

The political outlook in Afghanistan looks completely vague and the positive signs are few. That is what harms them. They are concerned about the future of their children and worried about uncertainty; the current uncertainties in Afghanistan. Every night they dream of political stability, peace and economic growth in their own country which can solve the problem of unemployment.

But can Afghans manage to bring out peace and stability in Afghanistan; can they turn the dream of Afghan refugees to the reality? I wish they could.

Najeebullah Wajahat is a freelance writer. He can be reached at najeeb_wajahat@yahoo.com.

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