Afghan refugees to return home

Thousands of Afghans have fled the fighting

By Jim Muir in Tehran

A major programme is getting under way in Iran aimed at returning hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled the fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan over the years.

There are officially estimated to be at least 1.4 million Afghan refugees in Iran, although unofficial estimates put that figure at 2 million or even more.

The repatriation scheme agreed between the Iranian Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is to take place over six months.

People with a genuine reason to fear returning home will be allowed to stay

Already, hundreds of Afghan refugees have begun gathering at a repatriation centre in Tehran. It is one of three around the country from where convoys will take them to the border.

But most of those turning up so far do not yet have exit permits and other paperwork, so the first big convoy of buses and trucks, with perhaps 700 returning refugees, is not expected to leave Tehran until Monday.

The UNHCR expects that in the coming months, around 3,000 Afghans may go home in this way every week.

Under the scheme, refugees who do not have valid personal documentation have six months in which they must either apply for voluntary repatriation or submit to screening by Iranian and UNHCR officials, who will decide whether they have a valid claim to be allowed to stay.

The UNHCR expects 3,000 refugees to return each week

If their claim is rejected, they can appeal, but only once. If that is turned down, they will have to leave.

It has been agreed that people with a genuine reason to fear returning home will be allowed to stay. Unaccompanied women, children and old people, the families of prisoners in Iranian jails, the sick and students will also not be sent back.

So, in theory at least, by October, all the hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees who are currently here illegally will either have left the country or have had their status regularised. In practice, though, it is hard to imagine that happening.

Work force

Large numbers of Afghan refugees are working illegally here in tough, menial jobs such as the construction industry, for lower wages than Iranians would demand.

While their presence has caused some resentment because of high unemployment among Iranians, the withdrawal of this huge labour force over such a short period would have major economic consequences.

For those who do return home, the UNHCR will be providing transport, as well as a cash grant equivalent to $40 per person, and some plastic sheeting if they need it.

Once across the border, they will also be given 50 kilos of wheat and helped with transport to their original homes.

The programme has been agreed by the UNHCR with the Taleban Government there - it says it welcomes the scheme.