Continued Protection, Sustainable Reintegration: Afghan Refugees and Migrants in Iran
M.J,Abbasi-Shavazi; D, Glazebrook (2006)
Why are so many Afghans in Iran as yet unwilling to return? What can be done to facilitate their reintegration, and to protect them while they continue to live in Iran?
This AREU briefing paper highlights the case of Afghans living in Iran, their current livelihoods and their processes of decision-making associated with returning to Afghanistan. It reports on research amongst migrants in three different locations in Iran: Tehran, Mashhad and Zahedan. Estimates suggest that at the end of 2004 over 1.5 million Afghans remain in Iran, despite the return of an approximately equal number and an increasingly hostile Iranian policy environment. Many of these migrants are undocumented, many single migrant labour; many others are whole households with legal documentation. The research found that:
most Afghans living in Iran would prefer to remain there in the medium term, often in order to continue accumulating capital for purchasing land, a house or a shop in Afghanistan prior to return, and to wait for better evidence of economic and infrastructure development and political stability in Afghanistan
Nevertheless, their status as migrants or refugees confines them to mainly low-status, often dangerous, heavy manual work, and in particular if they are undocumented they are constantly faced with the risk of arrest and deportation.
The briefing recommends that:
formalising temporary labour migration as a means of supporting return strategies in the short to medium term is a viable strategy for promoting repatriation
the protection of vulnerable Afghans who choose to remain in Iran must continue, as well as support to assist reintegration and employment in Afghanistan.
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