TEHRAN - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has estimated that 274,000 Afghan refugees, including those that have arrived in 2021, will remain in Iran by end of 2022.

According to a report titled “Afghanistan situation: Emergency preparedness and Response in Iran” published on July 18, the 2022 Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for the Afghanistan situation reveals that over 822,546 persons have been internally displaced in Afghanistan since the start of 2021, of which 20 percent are women and 60 percent are children.

As the number one destination for Afghan refugees, Iran has opened its arms to accept asylum seekers from its eastern neighbor.

According to evolving estimates by the Government of Iran, approximately 500,000 to 1 million Afghans came to Iran in 2021.

Some 40,714 Afghans who arrived in Iran from 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2022 have approached UNHCR requesting assistance and protection.
Moreover, some 170,000 have now returned to their previous places of residence, as the security situation improves.

Arrivals have continued during 2022 due to further deterioration of the human rights and socioeconomic situation in Afghanistan. 

Commendable services

As the number one destination for Afghan refugees, Iran alone, more than any other European or Western country in times of crisis, has opened its arms to accept asylum seekers from its eastern neighbor.

The number of Afghan immigrants living in Iran has exceeded four million. After entering Iran, Afghan immigrants had the highest presence in the provinces of Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan, and Sistan-Baluchestan.

Maha Kashour, head of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Mashhad, said in June that Iran’s efforts and activities in the last 40 years have been commendable to refugees, and in the past year, after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, has reached its peak.

Iran has so far been able to provide decent services to refugees in the fields of health, livelihood, and vocational training in cooperation with UNHCR, she noted.

MG