Many families have said they are having increasing difficulty registering their children, even though they have the correct documents certifying their refugee status. Millions of people, including many children, have already been returned and the campaign to expel them from Iran is intensifying. The first 10 kilometres of the wall that will divide the two countries have also been built.
Kabul (/Agencies) – Classes have started in Iran, but not for Afghan children who have taken refuge in the country. Many families have said that, due to increasingly strict rules and ever-higher school fees, their children are being denied enrolment in school. “Even though I had a letter from the Ministry of Education, the school director told me that there was no room and refused to enrol them,” she told . AmuTV Jamshid, who has been living in Iran for three years, has fled Afghanistan to escape the Taliban regime, which regained control of the country in August 2021. Since then, nearly half of the population has been severely food insecure, and according to the United Nations, about 85% live on less than a dollar a day.
Jamshid added that this year only her daughters were accepted and not her two sons. Some Iranian provinces, including Kerman, Shiraz, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, have refused to enroll Afghan students who only have basic documentation, the exiled newspaper said. The reformist daily Ham-Mihanfor his part, said that now, in order to stay in Iran, Afghan migrants are forced to buy a “smart card” that costs one billion rials (about $1,700). But many Afghan refugees avoid registering at UN agencies or with the Iranian authorities because they fear being searched and deported, or because they hope that Iran will only be a transit country to Europe.
In June, the Norwegian Refugee Council reported that there are more than 1.5 million Afghan children in Iran (out of a total of around 4.5 million refugees, although the real number is likely much higher) and only 600,000 were enrolled in school for the 2023-24 school year. Iran’s Ministry of Education, meanwhile, said that 556,000 pupils with valid documents had access to education last year. “Most Afghan families have their papers in order, but due to pressure to return home, many provinces are not allowing pupils to enrol,” said Nahid Masoudi, an advocate for Afghan refugee rights in Iran.
According to data from 2023, Iran is the country hosting the largest number of Afghans along with Pakistan, and the issue has long been the subject of domestic debate. Local media report daily on crimes allegedly involving Afghan citizens, who are also blamed for the difficult situation on the labour market or the spread of infectious diseases.
Last year, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced that Afghans would no longer be allowed to live in at least 16 provinces of the country. In May, the Interior Ministry reported that around 1.3 million “irregular migrants” had been returned to Afghanistan over the past year. According to some reports, they have also been 20,000 children repatriatedmany of them unaccompanied, as well as descendants of Afghan citizens who do not know their country of origin.
With the election of President Masoud Pezeshkian, the pressures for their expulsion have increased even further. The repatriation of another 2 million Afghans within six months was recently announced. Earlier this month The Iranian Parliament proposed reduce the “foreign population” (a generic term used to refer to Afghan refugees) by 10% annually. If the legislation is passed, local authorities will have to ensure that “foreign citizens” do not exceed 3% of the population in any city or province.
Meanwhile, the construction of the first 10 kilometres of a concrete wall to close the north-eastern border between the two countries, the one most used by refugees, has been completed. Brigadier General Nozar Nemati explained to local media: “The wall will improve the security of the country and the border areas, while having a positive impact on the economy.”
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