Foreign Diplomats Visit Health Centers for Afghan Refugees
October 22, 2000 - 0:0
MASHHAD, Khorasan Province A delegation of foreign diplomats residing in Iran arrived here on Friday night to visit health centers established for Afghan refugees in this northeastern province.
The delegation, accompanied by the deputy health minister, includes members of the foreign diplomatic corps of Holland, Japan and France, as well as representatives from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Tehran.
During their two-day visit to the province, members of the delegation are to inspect health centers established in the capital city for Afghan refugees residing in the region.
The health centers established by the UNFPA are responsible for educating Afghan refugees on various health issues.
Currently, 11 health centers have been set up in different parts of the country for foreign refugees residing in the Islamic Republic of which five are in Mashhad.
Some 400,000 Afghan refugees are currently living in Khorasan Province. Over half of these refugees have no legal residence permits.
Meanwhile, some 75 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Qom Province in the past week as part of the voluntary repatriation program reached with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a provincial official said here on Saturday.
Mojtaba Vaziri, official in charge of Qom's Bureau for Foreign Immigrants and Alien Affairs, told IRNA that over 4,000 refugees have returned to Afghanistan since the program took effect in April. Presently, some 85,000 Afghan refugees are living in Qom.
The UNHCR puts the total number of Afghans residing in Iran at 1.4 million.
Iranian authorities say there is an additional 700,000 illegal Afghan aliens residing in the country.
More than 60,000 Afghans have already gone back to their country since the UNHCR started a voluntary repatriation program on April.
An agreement signed in February between the UNHCR and Iran, some 100,000 refugees are to return to Afghanistan over a period of six months.
It gave refugees without immigration documents the option of seeking asylum within six months or of applying for repatriation.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata said last month in Tehran that the Iranian government had agreed to extend the repatriation program for Afghan refugees here by three months.
(IRNA)
The delegation, accompanied by the deputy health minister, includes members of the foreign diplomatic corps of Holland, Japan and France, as well as representatives from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Tehran.
During their two-day visit to the province, members of the delegation are to inspect health centers established in the capital city for Afghan refugees residing in the region.
The health centers established by the UNFPA are responsible for educating Afghan refugees on various health issues.
Currently, 11 health centers have been set up in different parts of the country for foreign refugees residing in the Islamic Republic of which five are in Mashhad.
Some 400,000 Afghan refugees are currently living in Khorasan Province. Over half of these refugees have no legal residence permits.
Meanwhile, some 75 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Qom Province in the past week as part of the voluntary repatriation program reached with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a provincial official said here on Saturday.
Mojtaba Vaziri, official in charge of Qom's Bureau for Foreign Immigrants and Alien Affairs, told IRNA that over 4,000 refugees have returned to Afghanistan since the program took effect in April. Presently, some 85,000 Afghan refugees are living in Qom.
The UNHCR puts the total number of Afghans residing in Iran at 1.4 million.
Iranian authorities say there is an additional 700,000 illegal Afghan aliens residing in the country.
More than 60,000 Afghans have already gone back to their country since the UNHCR started a voluntary repatriation program on April.
An agreement signed in February between the UNHCR and Iran, some 100,000 refugees are to return to Afghanistan over a period of six months.
It gave refugees without immigration documents the option of seeking asylum within six months or of applying for repatriation.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata said last month in Tehran that the Iranian government had agreed to extend the repatriation program for Afghan refugees here by three months.
(IRNA)