TEHRAN - Ivo Freijsen, Representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Iran, has said Iran provides wide-ranging services for refugees and the UN agency is honored to support Iran's efforts in this regard.

From long ago, the hospitality of Iranians has been well known. Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, during these many years, Afghans have sought asylum in Iran and have started living here.

Now they love Iran like their own country. Their children study here and go to the university. They get married here and start families. The government and people of Iran have always done what they could to serve them with kindness.

The latest example to prove this statement is the vaccination campaign to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the refugees were vaccinated just like all the Iranian citizens. Providing access to higher education, employment opportunities, and healthcare through the Universal Public Health Insurance for refugees is all proof of the hospitality of us Iranians.

In an exclusive interview with Iran Newspaper published on September 4, Freijsen said Iran is an exemplary country that has acted very well in hosting refugees and has been hosting them for a long time. 

Forty years have passed since Iran started hosting them [refugee]. As we have always said, Iran has had positive approaches toward refugees, we appreciate that, and we are honored to support Iran's efforts.

In fact, Iran provides wide-ranging services for refugees: such as basic healthcare services, education, and vocational training. And as you said, during the COVID-19 pandemic, those who were in Iran, whether the ones that had passports or the ones that had documentation and were [registered] refugees, received the vaccination.

We have always said that Iran has positive approaches toward refugees, and this is commendable and we are proud to support Iran's initiatives.

We need to create a favorable environment for those people [refugees] who have recently entered the country or those who have been in Iran before. 

This means that they should be able to stay in Iran and not be returned to their own country because Afghanistan is still not safe. 

The main part of our work is to support the government to attend to the needs of refugees, we cooperate in the areas of registration, data collection, and provision of documents.

Moreover, as long as these people [refugees] are in the country, they need work. So, we should help them access the job market. 

For this purpose, we assist both the government and the relevant organizations. We are also involved in the area of education for children and adolescents, and even adults. 

We have vocational training programs so that refugees can first be trained and then start working. 

Another focus is the area of health and medical care. We believe that healthy refugees are productive and resilient, refugees can both be helpful in Iran and be beneficial to their country when the situation improves, and they can return. 

In short, I can say that three sectors are very important for us: access to aid, meeting basic needs, and livelihood, and we are always active in these areas and support the governments and organizations involved in them. 

António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has praised Iran’s generosity which – for decades – has hosted millions of Afghans in need.

It is especially important to understand refugees. We should realize that these people, like us, have many positive potentials. 

Refugees are not people who sit idle in a corner doing nothing. On the contrary, refugees want access to the job market, employment, and education, in order to help the societies in which they have sought refuge. 

They want to be able to travel, have access to medical care, get married, start families, and in the end, when the situation allows it, return to their country. 

These people probably have more hope and motivation than us. They only need to be well understood. 

Many documents exist that show conflict to be the main reason for displacement [of people] either within countries or outside, and this is an obvious fact that is not unknown. What is new is that conflict has been combined with other elements—for example, climate change or lack of natural resources such as water. 

These elements have been combined together like a chain which has increased negative impact on people. In the end, people are forced to move and leave their countries. Small solutions are not enough to overcome these crises, and we should look for constructive solutions to resolve these issues. When the situation is not good, it is not strange that a person would enter Iran from another country or seek asylum in other countries. 

It is very natural: if I or you were living in an unfavorable situation, we would do the same. If you were a farmer and had no land to farm or no water, or your rights are violated in your own country, you would be forced to migrate. Our humanitarian support is not the main solution but only temporary relief. The main solution is peace, tranquility, development, and access to human rights. All world leaders are aware of this and should only start acting according to it.

According to the data from the government, as of October 2022, Iran hosts 800,000 registered refugees (Amayesh cardholders). Of this number, approximately 780,000 are Afghan, and about 20,000 are Iraqi refugees.

Also, around 586,000 Afghans possess passports and Iranian visas, including those who had Amayesh cards before and later received student visas to continue their university education.

Of course, approximately 2.1 million Afghans live in the country without documentation.

President Ebrahim Raisi has said despite the fact that the Europeans have made many claims about supporting the Afghans, but have not provided them with any assistance, contrary to their comments, today more than four million Afghans are guests of the Islamic Republic.

In light of the pandemic, all refugees, even those undocumented, benefited from access to free primary health services and free COVID-19-related testing, treatment, and hospitalization, just like Iranian nationals.

The same happened for the vaccination when the country generously considered refugees for vaccination against coronavirus.

António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has praised Iran’s generosity which – for decades – has hosted millions of Afghans in need.

I will never forget the generosity of countries like Pakistan and Iran, which – for decades – have hosted millions of Afghans in need,” Guterres said in a statement released on January 26 to the Security Council on Afghanistan.

MG