Afghans in Iran

Afghans in Iran are mostly refugees who have fled wars in Afghanistan since the April 1978 Saur Revolution in Kabul. It also includes an unknown number of illegal migrant workers as well as a smaller number of traders, exchanged students, diplomats, and tourists.^[3] According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of 2016 there are 951,142 registered Afghan citizens living in Iran.^[1] Most of these were born and raised in Iran during the last three and a half decades.^[4][5]

Iran's Ministry of Interior reported in 2015 that the total number of Afghans in Iran could be as high as 2.5 million, which includes those who are registered by the UNHCR as refugees as well as Iranian visa holders and those who entered the country illegally.^[2][1] Afghans in Iran are under the care and protection of the UNHCR,^[1] and provided legal status by the Government of Iran. They cannot obtain permanent residency, and live in Iran under time-limited condition of stay.^[6]

Iran opened its border gates to Afghans escaping from the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the subsequent civil war but they are now asked to leave the country.^[3] Many face forceful deportation every year,^[7] which began in 2006 when about 146,387 undocumented Afghans were deported.^[8] In 2010, six Afghan prisoners were executed by being hanged in the streets of Iran, which sparked angry demonstrations in Afghanistan.^[9] Approximately 4,000 and 5,000 Afghans were reported in 2010 to be in Iranian jails.^[9][10][11]

Stay

The legal immigrants of Afghanistan in Iran are entitled to reside in Iran in two categories, temporary residence permit cards, and passports. Afghan refugees who are known as refugees and have a so-called "Amiesh Card". Each year, under a plan called the residence permit scheme, they are renewed for one year, and the cost of it in the last plan for the year 2016 was as follows:

• 8 thousand tomans for Jalal (500 for administrative affairs - 5000 for observation - 2500 for fingerprints).
• 17,000 Tomans Tariffs for Amiesh Card (per person).
• Work card (for men over 18 and under the age of 60) 287500 for issue - 207000 for renewal.
• Between 120000 and 150000 tomans the right to work (for every employed person).
• Between 9,000 and 37,000 tomans of accident insurance (for mandatory cardholders and for optional households).
• Municipality complications: In 2016 in Tehran, the rate of municipal incomes from each family of two foreigners residing in Tehran is 150 thousand tomans, families 3 and 4 people 200 thousand tomans, and families of more than 4 people 250 thousand tomans are considered taxes and complications per year. .

These categories of immigrants only have the right to travel in a province whose card has been issued there, and for travel outside the province should receive an inter-provincial travel passes, for 15000 tomans each instance.

Forbidden areas

The red areas are areas where Afghan citizens do not have the right to reside there.

The presence of Afghan nationals in 15 provinces is completely prohibited, and in 12 other provinces in some cities and regions, their residence is prohibited. The Iranian government decided to restrict or open the presence of Afghan citizens in the provinces, based on parameters such as livelihood, employment, work, inflation, unemployment, etc., by provincial executives.

Province	Forbidden areas
East Azarbaijan	The residence of Afghan citizens at the provincial level ( except Tabriz ) is prohibited.
Western Azerbaijan	The residence of Afghan citizens at the provincial level ( other than Urmia ) is prohibited.
Ardebil	The residence of Afghan nationals at the provincial level ( other than the city of Ardabil ) is prohibited.
Esfahan	The residence of Afghan nationals is prohibited in the cities of Natanz , Fryden , Fereydoun City , Semirom , Chadgan , Khansar , Dehagan , Nain , Golpayegan , Khorobiabank , Ardestan and Abu Zaid district of Aran and Bidgol .
Alborz	Residents of non-Iranian citizens are allowed in the entire province.
Ilam	The residence of Afghan citizens in the province ( other than Ilam ) is prohibited.
Bushehr	The residence of Afghan nationals in the districts of Dilam and Genavh is prohibited.
Tehran	Residents of non-Iranian citizens throughout the province (with the exception of the Khojir area in Tehran's 13th District for Afghan nationals).
Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari	The residence of Afghan citizens in the province ( other than the city of Shahr-Kord ) is prohibited.
southern Khorasan	The residence of Afghan citizens is allowed in the cities of Khosf and Birjand .
Khorasan Razavi	The residence of Afghan citizens in the Torbat Jam , Quchan , Taybad , Khaf , Sarakhs , Kalat Naderi and Dargaz boundaries is prohibited.
North Khorasan	The residence of Afghan nationals at the provincial level ( other than the city of Bojnourd ) is prohibited.
Khuzestan	The residence of Afghan citizens at the provincial level ( except Ahwaz and Gotvand ) is prohibited.
Zanjan	The residence of Afghan citizens at the provincial level ( other than Zanjan ) is prohibited.
Semnan	The residence of Afghan citizens in Shahrood and Damghan is prohibited.
Sistan and Baluchestan	The residence of Afghan nationals throughout the province ( other than the city of Zahedan ) is prohibited.
Fars	The residence of Afghan citizens in the cities of Firoozabad , Farashband , Darab , Arsanjan , Fasa , Mehr , Rostam , Khanei and Nayyriz is prohibited.
Qazvin	The residence of Afghan nationals throughout the province ( other than Qazvin ) is prohibited.
Qom	Residents of non-Iranian citizens are allowed in the entire province.
Kurdistan	The residence of Afghan nationals at the provincial level ( other than Sanandaj ) is prohibited.
Kerman	The residence of Afghan nationals is prohibited in Anbarabad , Baft , Manojan , Ghaleghand , Bam , Fahraj , Roodbar , Faryab , Narmeshir , Kahnouj , Jiroft , Pomegranate and Reagan .
Kermanshah	The residence of Afghan nationals at the provincial level ( other than the city of Kermanshah ) is prohibited.
Kohgiloyeh and Boyerahmad	The residence of Afghan citizens at the provincial level ( except Yasuj ) is prohibited.
Golestan	The residence of Afghan nationals throughout the province ( other than Gorgan and Gorgan ) is prohibited.
Gilan	The residence of Afghan citizens at the provincial level ( except Rasht ) is prohibited.
Lorestan	The residence of Afghan citizens at the provincial level ( other than the city of Khorramabad ) is prohibited.
Mazandaran	The residence of Afghan citizens at the provincial level ( other than the city of Sari ) is prohibited.
Central	The residence of Afghan nationals is prohibited in Ashtian , Tafresh , Farahan , Farmahin , Khomein , Shazand , Mahallat , Zarandiyeh , Kandyan and Khondab .
Hormozgan	The residence of Afghan nationals throughout the province ( other than Bandar Abbas ) is prohibited.
Hamedan	Accommodation of Afghan citizens at the provincial level ( except Hamedan ) is prohibited.
Yazd	The residence of Afghan citizens is strictly prohibited in Khatam and Bafq .

Employment

Afghan workers are digging wells in Tehran

According to official statistics released in Iran, Afghan workers with a population of 2 million have about 10% of the labor market in Iran. The presence of Afghan workers in Iran has provoked many Iranian workers' protests and launched numerous protests and protests to counteract the employment of foreigners and unemployed people. The Iranian government has also imposed a number of restrictions, including the ban on the use of foreign workers in governmental and non-governmental organizations, and called on all government agencies, non-state actors, companies and contractors to provide their needed labor to Iran's only workforce, with numerous penalties Including imprisonment and a fine for the offending employers. However, many employers, especially private ones, prefer to use Afghan laborers for their low cost, lack of insurance, and high productivity. Experts believe that the cause of the unemployment problem is not the presence of foreign nationals, as most foreigners are engaged in simple jobs, while the high unemployment rate in Iran is especially for graduate students and professionals.

Political history and migration

A miniature from Padshahnama depicting the surrender of the Persian Safavid garrison of Kandahar in 1638 to the Mughals, which was re-taken by the Persians in 1650 during the Mughal-Safavid war.

As neighbouring countries with cultural ties,^[12] there has been a long history of population movements between Iran and Afghanistan.^[13] Southern Afghanistan was contested between the Persian Safavid dynasty and the Moghuls of India until 1709 when Mir Wais Hotak, founder of the Hotaki dynasty, declared it independent.^[14] During the reign of Nader Shah, the brother of Ahmad Shah Durrani was made Governor of Mazandaran Province. A few years after Nader Shah's death, Durrani and his Afghan army made Nader's grandson Shahrokh Afshar, ruler of the small remaining Afshar territory comprising the Khorasan and Kohistan provinces of Iran, their vassal for some years.^[15] The region remained a vassal territory of the Afghan Empire until Durrani's death. During the early 19th century, the Persian army invaded Herat several times but with British assistance the Afghans quickly expelled them.^[16][17] Communities made up of 2,000 and 5,000 households of ethnic Hazaras were formed in Torbat-e Jam and Bakharz in Iran. The 1857 Treaty of Paris ended hostilities of the Anglo-Persian War. The modern day Afghan-Iranian border gradually began to take shape in the second half of the 19th century.

Afghan migrant workers, pilgrims and merchants, who settled in Iran over the years, had by the early 20th century, become large enough to be officially classified as their own ethnic group, referred to variously as Khavari or Barbari.^[18] Young Hazara men have embraced migrant work in Iran and other Persian Gulf states in order to save money for marriage and become independent; such work has even come to be seen as a "rite of passage".^[19] Such migration intensified in the early 1970s due to famine, and by 1978, there were an estimated several hundred thousand Afghan migrant workers in Iran.^[20]

The Soviet war in Afghanistan, which erupted in 1979, was the beginning of a series of major waves of refugee flight from Afghanistan.^[21] Those who came to Iran often augmented the ranks of migrant workers already there. The new Islamic Republic took place around the same time as the influx of masses of Afghan migrants to other countries, fleeing the plagues of problems in their own country. Iran started recognising those Afghans listed as migrants workers or refugees as legals. They issued them "blue cards" to denote their status, entitling them to free primary and secondary education, as well as subsidised healthcare and food. However, the government maintained some restrictions on their employment, namely prohibiting them from owning their own businesses or working as street vendors.^[13]

Most of the early academic attention on these new immigrants was focused on ethnically Pashtun Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Studies on Afghans in Iran came later due to the political situation during the Iran–Iraq War.^[18] By 1992, a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that there were around 2.8 million Afghans in Iran. Just 10% were housed in refugee camps; most settled in or near urban areas.^[20] For their efforts in housing and educating these refugees and illegals, the Iranian government received little financial aid from the international community.^[22] With the fall of the Najibullah government of Afghanistan in 1992, Iran began efforts to encourage refugees to repatriate. During these years, there were many reports of cases of Afghans being harassed by Iranian law enforcement officers. Legal residents had their identity cards confiscated and exchanged with temporary residency permits of one-month validity, at the expiry of which they were expected to have left Iran and have repatriated.^[23]

Social life and other issues

Afghan boys in Isfahan, Iran.

Afghan refugees have come to Iran since the 1980s, including children and adolescents.^[22] Many were born in Iran over the last 30 years but were unable to gain citizenship due to Iranian immigration laws. The refugees include Hazaras, Tajiks, Qizilbash, Pashtuns, and other ethnic groups of Afghanistan.^[26] One UNHCR paper claims that nearly half the documented refugees are Hazara, a primarily Shi'a group.^[27]

In Afghanistan, some people feel that using birth control violates the tenets of their religion; however, in Iran, attitudes are far different, due to the country's extensive promotion of family planning. Afghans in Iran have moved closer to mainstream Iranian values in this regard; the Iranian influence has even filtered back into Afghanistan.^[28] One study in Khorasan has found that while overall fertility rates for Afghan migrant women are somewhat higher than those for Iranian women there—3.9 vs. 3.6—the similarity hides significant age-related differences in fertility, with older Afghan migrant women having a far higher number of children than older Iranian urban women, while younger Afghan migrant women's number of children appears to be approaching the far-lower Iranian urban norm.^[29] Contraceptive usage among the same study group was 55%, higher than for local Iranian women.^[30]

More broadly, the same conservative men who resisted aggressive attempts by communist governments in Afghanistan to expand women's education and their role in the economy are now faced with the very changes from which they had hoped to shield their families. This shift in family and gender roles was induced by the experience of living as refugees in largely Muslim society.^[31]

Some Afghan men married Iranian women during their residence in Iran; however, under Iranian nationality law, the children of such marriages are not recognised as Iranian citizens, and it is also more difficult for the men to gain Iranian citizenship than for Afghan women married to Iranian men.^[32]

Although Iranian authorities have made efforts to educate Afghan children, Human Rights Watch reports that many undocumented Afghan children face bureaucratic obstacles that prevent their children from attending school, in violation of international law. Iranian law limits Afghans who have permission as refugees to work to a limited number of dangerous and poorly paid manual labor jobs, regardless of their education and skills.^[6]

The Iranian government has also failed to take necessary steps to protect its Afghan population from physical violence linked to rising anti-foreigner sentiment in Iran, or to hold those responsible accountable.^[33]

According to Article 5 of the Civil Code of Iran, foreign nationals may enjoy the rights in respect of the possession of movable property, except in cases where the government has not prohibited them, but according to Article 1 of the Rules of Procedure, how to own immovable property, ownership of this category of property is only available to persons who have the right to permanent residence in Iran Have. For foreigners, there are limits to ownership. For example, this group does not have the right to own land (land-mine) and the ownership of residential property under certain conditions, including the official permission of the Iranian government. According to this law, because many Afghan citizens in Iran have temporary residence (card + passport), they do not have the right to own immovable property, and only in certain circumstances and when the government allows them.

Many Afghan refugees in Iran face unconsciousness, confusion, uncertainty, mental and psychological pressures, and poor economic conditions and high living costs. Enduring the problems and constraints facing them in Iran, and the frustration of improving the situation in Afghanistan, they are thinking of leaving Iran and going to a third country. According to a survey conducted by the Iranian Ministry of Interior in 2016, more than 60 percent of the Afghans living in Iran were thinking of going to European countries.

Education

One of the problems that Afghan immigrants in Iran had was the schooling of children. Law children were enrolled in school fees, and children who did not have legal residency, either retrained or retrained in the PAs. In recent years, the conditions for children's education have been reciprocated by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's statement that in April 2012, " No Afghan children, even illegal immigrants in Iran, should be excluded from education and all of them must be enrolled in Iranian schools " Many Afghan children were enrolled in Iranian schools and were eligible to study. In 2017, around 360,000 Afghan students will study in 25,409 Iranian schools, and up to 10 percent can continue to study in technical and vocational schools. [30] The cost of schooling for each student in one academic year is about 1 million and 800 thousand, and more than 2 million in vocational schools, which contributes about 10 percent of all education costs in Iran to the UNHCR, and the remainder, according to government regulations, in the year 93 Islamic Republic of Iran.

According to Article 138 of the Constitution, children who do not have an identity document who age in terms of enrollment and study in the official educational system of the country are identified and a special card is issued under the title "Educational Support Card". University education

University education is not free for Afghan citizens in Iran, and many students have difficulty studying at university with numerous problems, such as higher education costs, the problem of extending a residence permit, having no work record after graduation in Iran to return to Afghanistan, student insurance, non-certification. And the truing performance of issuance, the disregard of a specific budget for immigrant organs for cultural activities, etc. are among the fundamental problems that students face. According to statistics published in 2016, more than 11,000 Afghan students study at Iranian universities. The Afghan immigrants in Iran need to change their student qualifications to study at the university. In the past, after graduation, the student's passport was not credible and the graduate student had to return to his country, but with the reforms that have taken place in recent years, students who have completed their residence permit in Iran could change their student passport to normal. Although the IOM Immigration Program has taken programs to return students to use their expertise in Afghanistan, they lack recruitment in Afghanistan due to lack of infrastructure for their expertise, corruption and ethnicity, and insecurity. Many Iranian graduates are reluctant to return to Afghanistan. Forbidden disciplines

Studying Afghan students in university courses that lead to government-sponsored employment is prohibited, and they can only study in fields other than the following, and at universities that are not forbidden areas for Afghans.

1. atomic physics
2. nuclear physics
3. Molecular physics (plasma)
4. Particle physics
5. Plasma engineering
6. Safety Engineering (Technical Inspection and Aircraft Protection)
7. Maintenance Engineering (Helicopter and Aircraft)
8. aerospace engineering
9. Aeronautical Engineering (Piloting, Aircraft Navigation, Aircraft Maintenance, Helicopter Piloting and Flight Care)
10. Military Sciences
11. Airline Electronics
12. Aircraft Maintenance
13. Airplane Contacts
14. Flying care
15. IT (Secure Telecommunication Orienteering)
16. Satellite technology engineering
17. Computer Engineering (Secure Computing Orienteering)

Health care

Execution of Afghans prisoners

Approximately 3,000 Afghan prisoners face the death penalty in Iran.^[10][11] A number of them have been executed by hanging in the last decade.^{[34][35][36][37][38]} Iran imposes the death penalty even for minor drug-related offenses, such as possession of only 30 grams of amphetamines..^[39]

Deportations

Many Afghan refugees have returned to their country since the fall of the Taliban since 2002.

In popular culture

Since the 1980s, a number of Iranian movies set in Iran have featured Afghan immigrant characters. One early example is Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 1988 movie The Bicyclist, in which the character of the title, a former Afghan cycling champion, gives a demonstration in his town's square where he rides his bicycle without stopping for seven days and seven nights, with the aim of raising money for life-saving surgery for his wife. In the end, even after seven days, he continues to pedal endlessly, too fatigued to hear his son's pleas to get off his bicycle.^[42] One scholar analyses the film as an allegory which parallels the exploitation that Afghan refugees suffer from in Iran and from which they are unable to escape.^[21]

Other notable films with Afghan characters include Jafar Panahi's 1996 The White Balloon, Abbas Kiarostami's 1997 A Taste of Cherry, Majid Majidi's 2000 Baran, and Bahram Bayzai's 2001 Sagkoshi.^[21]

Notable people

• Jalaleddin Farsi, former candidate for the presidency of Iran, born to an Afghan father^[43]
• Setayesh Qorayshi

See also

• Afghan diaspora
• Afghanistan–Iran relations

References

Further reading

• Olszewska, Zuzanna (2007), "'A Desolate Voice': Poetry and Identity among Young Afghan Refugees in Iran", Iranian Studies, 40 (2): 203–224, doi:10.1080/00210860701269550
• Tober, Diane (2007), "'My Body Is Broken Like My Country': Identity, Nation, and Repatriation among Afghan Refugees in Iran", Iranian Studies, 40 (2): 263–285, doi:10.1080/00210860701269584
• Kutschera, Chris, "Forgotten Refugees: Afghans in Iran", The Middle East, 45 (92): 43–47

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Afghan diaspora in Iran.

• Photos: The Life of Afghan Refugees in Tehran
• Photo essay by Samad Ali Moradi of Afghans in Iran (1993-96)