By Saqalain Eqbal in Khaama Press online, Dec 11, 2022
A delegation from the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation visited Tehran, the capital of Iran, to participate in quadrilateral talks on the challenges and difficulties faced by Afghan refugees, Iranian media reported.
According to Iran’s Mehr News Agency, the refugee and repatriation delegation from Afghanistan reached the Iranian capital to discuss the situation of Afghan refugees in Iran after reports of forced repatriation and ill-treatment surfaced.
The delegation representing the caretaker Afghan administration will engage in quadrilateral talks with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Pakistan, and Iran to address the concerns and challenges of Afghan refugees.
The meeting, according to representatives of the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, would discuss problems facing Afghan immigrants in Iran as well as potential remedies.
“We will reach an agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan on how to solve the problems so that the immigrants return to the country voluntarily,” Mehr quoted the Deputy Minister of Refugees and Repatriation.
With the political unrest in Afghanistan, both the number of Afghans escaping potential persecution by the new administration and the number of forced deportations of Afghan refugees without legal status have increased.
A Wall Street Journal article previously reported that Iran deported between 2,500 and 4,000 Afghan refugees every day, totaling millions of Afghans this year. Similarly, Pakistan detained many undocumented Afghan refugees in jails and sent them back to Afghanistan.
This comes after Amnesty International previously urged all countries to avoid deporting Afghan migrants to Turkey or Iran, where they risk incarceration, torture, and other ill-treatment before being refouled to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, figures from the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation show that Afghanistan’s neighbors to the east and west, Pakistan and Iran, host over 6 million Afghan migrants.
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-delegation-visits-tehran-for-quadrilateral-talks-on-refugees-46743/
