U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1997 - Iran

Iran continued to host the largest number of refugees of any country in the world in 1996. The total included 1,400,000 Afghan refugees and 580,000 Iraqi refugees. Another 40,000 persons listed by the government of the Islamic Republic as being "displaced" are most likely refugees of other nationalities, including Bosnians, Tajiks, Azerbaijanis, and others. The total number of refugees present did not change substantially, despite the influx in September of about 75,000 Kurdish refugees from northern Iraq. By year's end, all but about 1,000 of them had repatriated. Afghan Refugees For the most part, Iran demonstrated patience with respect to the 1.4 million Afghan refugees living in Iran, some of whom have been in the country for more than 15 years. Although significant numbers of Afghans have repatriated from Iran, particularly in 1993, the rate of repatriation has slowed considerably since then. Despite an Iranian government announcement in March 1995 that all Afghan refugees would be required to leave Iran by March 1997, conditions inside Afghanistan have remained unsettled, frustrating the repatriation plan. The success of the Taliban militia in Herat province, bordering Iran, has dissuaded many Afghan refugees in Iran from repatriating. In fact, many of those who repatriated to the Herat area in 1993 returned to Iran after the Taliban takeover in September 1995. Although the Islamic Republic had established a target figure of 500,000 Afghan repatriations for 1996, by year's end only 41,619 were known to have repatriated. Part of the planning agreed upon in consultation with UNHCR had been for Afghan refugees to repatriate via Turkmenistan. Despite the agreement of the governments of Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan, the refugees themselves showed no interest in using this route. During the year, 8,367 Afghan refugees repatriated voluntarily with the assistance of UNHCR and IOM. Each received the equivalent of $25 in cash, transportation to the border, plastic sheeting, and 50 kgs. of wheat. In some cases, IOM was able to organize onward transportation from Herat to destinations in the northern and central provinces. In general, the Iranian authorities showed an awareness of difficulties Afghan refugees could face if returned to Taliban-controlled areas, and appeared not to be pushing repatriation as hard as in previous years. However, another 33,252 Afghans who did not possess documents for longer stay in Iran were repatriated during 1996 without UNHCR assistance. It was not clear whether or not their return was voluntary. Not only were large numbers of Afghan refugees refusing to repatriate from Iran during the year, but new refugees began arriving from Afghanistan, usually crossing the border surreptitiously. For the most part, new arrivals did not present themselves to the authorities after entering, and were considered, officially, as illegal aliens. The government had no estimate for their numbers. Among the Afghans entering Iran in 1996 were also persons with valid travel documents. They often overstayed their visas. Most Afghan refugees have been integrated into the general populace, and have become economically self-sufficient, albeit at marginal levels. Only a small minority, about 21,800 persons, were living in refugee camps during the year, and they received minimal international assistance. Afghan refugees in Iran fall into at least four different categories. The government has not provided figures indicating the particular status of the 1.4 Afghan refugees living in Iran. Those who are recognized as refugees, who fled Afghanistan during the 1980s, receive a "green card," a refugee identification document that enables them to stay legally (although the duration of the stay is not specified, and could be revoked at any time). A green card holder is entitled to subsidized health care and free primary and secondary education. Until a downturn in the Iranian economy in 1995, green cards holders also received food subsidies. Since the withdrawal of food subsidies, their economic conditions have worsened. Green card holders are eligible for repatriation assistance. In 1993, the Iranian authorities began issuing temporary registration documents to undocumented Afghans as a means of registering them for repatriation. About 549,000 Afghans, persons who entered in the 1990s, were issued temporary registration documents, giving them temporary legal status, but putting them on a track for repatriation. Between 1993 and 1995, the majority did, in fact, repatriate, but the uncertainty about conditions in Afghanistan caused many temporary registration document holders to remain longer than anticipated. The government periodically announces dates when the validity of these documents expires. Because the authorities sometimes wait until after the expiration date to announce a renewal of the documents' validity, Afghans holding temporary registration documents have had a somewhat precarious legal status. Many of them have fled fighting in and around Kabul and Herat and would have strong refugee claims, but are not able to register as such. Therefore, they remain at risk (and fearful) of deportation, their children are not able to go to school, it is difficult for them to find work, they are not entitled to medical services, and their existence is quite marginalized. An even more temporary document is the laissezpasser, which must be renewed individually each month. This has the advantage for the Afghan refugee of enabling the Afghan document holder to travel freely within Iran, but has the disadvantage of limited duration, enabling the government to withdraw legal recognition quickly. Some Afghans hold employment identity cards, which predicate the right to residence on holding a job. Work authorization cards do not bear an expiration date. Finally, there remains in Iran a population of undocumented Afghans, who may or may not be refugees, who travel back and forth across the border depending on circumstances, economic or political, on either side. Only a small fraction of Afghan refugees live in camps. At the end of 1996, they numbered only 21,759. UNHCR provided assistance in six camps. One camp, Torbat-e-Jam, on the road between Mashhad and the Afghan border, holds about 8,000 persons. It is an isolated, closed camp, surrounded by a wire fence. The authorities provide the camp residents with bread, soap, and kerosene rations. Visitors to the camp have reported that the residents appear to be well-nourished and in reasonably good health. Men often engage in work details off site, leaving their families for the duration of a work contract. For most Afghans, jobs are limited to low-wage, manual day-labor, often in the construction industry. Afghans are prohibited from running their own businesses or from being street vendors. Households headed by women or elderly men, therefore, often have severely limited earning potential, and are significantly more impoverished than families headed by able-bodied men. (In January 1997, the Iranian labor ministry ordered employers to fire foreign workers without work authorization. Most such workers are Afghans. Iranian interior ministry officials also announced their intention to repatriate 200,000 Afghan refugees via Turkmenistan in 1997.) Iraqi Refugees, New Influx In the confusion of the mass influx in the first week of September 1996, it was not clear whether Iran would maintain an open border policy or close its doors to the fleeing Iraqi Kurds. At the outset, the Iranian government position was that it would create a "safe haven" within the failed safe haven, providing assistance to Iraqi Kurds massed on the border, but not allowing them to enter Iran. At one point, the government appeared set on implementing this policy when it closed the Siran Band crossing, on the road to the Iranian border town of Penjwin. This created a back up of thousands of cars, tractors, and wagons piled high with would-be refugees' belongings. Siran Band is one of four major crossing points between northern Iraq and Iran. USCR issued a press release on September 10 calling upon the Islamic Republic to "continue its tradition of hospitality and to keep its border open to Kurdish refugees from Iraq." In addition, USCR called upon the international community "to recognize the tremendous burden that a large-scale influx would place on Iran, and to assist Iran in coping with the costs." Soon thereafter, Iran's chief refugee official, Ahmad Hosseini, announced a change of policy, saying that the Islamic Republic would not admit any more refugees into the country "unless in an emergency." This cracked the door open to the new arrivals coming from areas where there was active fighting and where the safety of displaced persons could not be assured on the Iraqi side of the border. Even so, thousands remained massed on the Iraqi side of the border, even as others entered Iran. Hosseini called for emergency humanitarian aid on behalf of the refugees, citing the need for food, cooking oils, clothing, and medicine. Throughout the course of the emergency, Iranian authorities complained about the lack of international assistance and attention, while international humanitarian authorities sometimes criticized Iran for not providing sufficient assistance and protection. The extent of the refugee influx was also a matter of dispute. UNHCR gave a lower estimate of new arrivals than did the Iranian authorities. Initially, UNHCR put the refugee figure at 38,000; the Iranian Red Crescent, on the other hand, said that it had registered and accommodated 75,308 people in six camps in the western provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdestan, and Kermanshah. Nevertheless, at year's end, UNHCR reported that 96,000 Iraqi Kurdish refugees had repatriated from Iran to northern Iraq. UNHCR accounted for the discrepancy between its revised figure of 65,000 arrivals and 96,000 departures by saying that it believed some of those who registered as returnees were making false claims in order to receive repatriation assistance. In any case, by year's end, all but about 1,000 had repatriated, and most of those were expected to return shortly after the beginning of the new year. The largest of the six refugee camps established for the new Kurdish arrivals was the Siran Band camp near the town of Baneh in Kurdestan province in western Iran, close to the Iraqi border. At the height of the influx, UNHCR said that it held about 22,000 refugees, although the Iranian government and Iranian Red Crescent cited figures ranging up to 35,000. Iranian soldiers pitched their tents on the outskirts of the sprawling tent encampment, while refugees lined up for food and water, which were in short supply. On September 18, Siran Band was shelled from positions inside Iraq, killing 11 Iraqi refugees and wounding 35. After the shelling, UNHCR and MSF urged the Iranian authorities to move the camp farther away from the border. The camp was not moved, however. As the winter months approached, conditions in Siran Band deteriorated, particularly due to lack of heating fuel in the cold, mountainous region where the camp was located. Another of the border camps was closed and its inhabitants relocated due to insecurity. In the last week of September, about 10,000 refugees were moved from the Tileh-Kooh camp near Sar-e Pol-e Zahab in Kermanshah province to a nearby camp called Tappeh Rash. Relations between the Iranian authorities and international humanitarian agencies remained strained throughout the crisis. Although the UN announced that it had released $3.6 million in emergency funds, the Iranian authorities complained that they had seen little sign of it in mid-September. In October, as fighting raged between the Kurdish parties, and towns and cities along the Iranian border frequently changed hands, there was some additional displacement into Iran. However, with the signing of a cease-fire on October 23 between the two major Kurdish parties in northern Iraq, large numbers of Iraqi Kurdish refugees began returning from Iran. The degree of voluntariness of the return could not be independently assessed, as the Iranian authorities restricted access to the area. UNHCR was not involved in any of the repatriations. To the extent that it could be determined, it appeared that the Iranian authorities did coerce refugees to return as the large-scale repatriations were taking place, particularly by withholding food and other relief items until departure. Changing political conditions inside northern Iraq, as well as inhospitable conditions in the camps, were other factors in the refugees' decision to return. The Iranian authorities complained bitterly that the international community, represented by UNHCR, had failed to provide adequate shelter and heating fuel for the refugees, forcing them to return, even if they were not fully prepared. UNHCR, on the other hand, complained that the Iranian authorities blocked UNHCR access to the camps during the largest repatriations in November, and ignored UNHCR appeals to move the refugees from the mountains to the plains, where they would be easier to care for. In some cases, refugees interviewed by journalists upon return from Iran attributed their decision to repatriate both to the irregularity of food and heating fuel distribution in the camps, as well as to a belief that the cease-fire in northern Iraq would hold. By the end of November, four of the seven refugee camps built in September were empty. They were: Kileh, in Sardasht, which held about 16,000 at the height of the influx; Ashkan and Ghassemrash, also in Sardasht, which had held 8,000 and 3,000, respectively; and Bashmagh, in Marivan, which had held about 6,000. At year's end, only Siran Band remained, but its remaining population was expected to depart in the first week of 1997. Iran said that it spent about $15 million between September and the end of December on housing and assisting the new Iraqi refugee arrivals. Iraqi Refugees, Old Caseload The turmoil in northern Iraq and new influx and return movements had little to no effect on the lives of the 580,000 Iraqi refugees living in Iran. Most, about 350,000, had been expelled from Iraq at the time of the Iraq-Iran War because of their suspected Iranian origin, and have lived in the western region of Iran for well over a decade as an almost invisible population from the perspective of the international community. The expellees are mostly Kurds, and for the most part are scattered in the western and central provinces, living in both rural and urban settings. Generally, they are economically self-sufficient, but lack permanent residence status. They tend to occupy jobs at the lower rungs of the economy and in 1996 suffered both from the general downturn in the Iranian economy and the end of health and education subsidies. According to UNHCR estimates, about 40 percent of the Iraqi refugees are children under the age of 18. Adult women constitute another 20 percent. Only 64,392 of the Iraqi refugees were living in 27 camps in July 1996. There were 17 camps in Iran's three western provinces that sheltered 27,904 Kurds, and 10 camps, located mostly in the central and southern provinces, that accommodated 36,488 Shi'ite Arabs. A small fraction of the refugees are Faili Kurds, a group of less than 3,000 who are considered to be stateless, and whose citizenship is a matter of contention between Iran and Iraq. Most of them have been issued green cards, allowing them to work and reside in Iran. Some 10,000 Iraqi refugees are Shi'ite Arabs believed to have fled from the marshlands to Iran in 1994, joining some 50,000 to 60,000 Iraqi Shi'ite refugees already there. Although information was sketchy concerning their conditions, MSF was providing assistance in two camps: Sarvestan, a camp of 2,000 in Fars province, and Ibrajhim Anad, a camp of 2,500 in Markhazi province. The residents were living in either tents or hard shelters. During 1996, 2,401 Iraqi refugees from the old caseload voluntarily repatriated with UNHCR assistance. They crossed into northern Iraq and returned mainly to the areas of Dohuk and Erbil. Although voluntary repatriations were suspended during the heightened conflict in northern Iraq in September, they resumed in November. Other Refugees Another 40,000 refugees of various nationalities are believed to reside in Iran. They do not appear to have been officially registered, and UNHCR has had no access to this population. Internal Displacement An indeterminate number of Iranians are still internally displaced as a result of the Iran-Iraq War. Some war-stricken areas remained damaged, and many housing units were still uninhabitable in 1996. At year's end, the Welfare Organization announced that 3,400 residential units would be reconstructed by the end of 1997. Iranians outside Iran Hundreds of thousands of Iranians are believed to remain in political exile outside Iran, most without refugee status. UNHCR has said that it is not able to monitor the safety of rejected asylum seekers. Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the Iranian government has dealt harshly with real or potential political opposition. Torture and imprisonment are commonly used; thousands have been executed. Targeted groups have included leftists, monarchists, homosexuals, ethnic minorities, including Kurds and Baluchis, and religious minorities, especially Baha'is and converts to Christianity. Human rights conditions did not noticeably improve in 1996, making it unlikely that members of these groups would return. Although Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians (as well as prominent Sunni clerics) have been persecuted at various times, the Shi'ite government officially recognizes their religions. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is not tolerated, however, and converts have been subjected to severe persecution. The Baha'i religion is also not recognized, and the 350,000-member Baha'i community has suffered systematic persecution under the Islamic Republic. Though government policy forbids Baha'i emigration, an estimated 20,000 Baha'is have fled the country since 1979, ending up in Canada, the United States, Australia, and other countries. In recent years, more than 60 politically active Iranian exiles have been murdered in what appear to have been politically motivated killings, many of which strongly implicated agents of the Iranian government. Assassination of Iranian exiles continued in 1996: among them, the killing in February of Zahrah Rajabi and Abdul Ali Moradi in Istanbul; the murder in May of a former official in the Shah's government in Paris; and the increasingly common assassinations of members of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran in northern Iraq. In a number of instances, including in trials in Germany and France, foreign-government prosecutors accused Iranian government officials of involvement in political killings on their territories. One group of Iranian refugees appeared ready to repatriate. Iranian Kurdish refugees in the Al-Tash camp in Iraq petitioned the Iranian embassy in Baghdad to permit their return, but were unsuccessful. Some of the refugees who arrived in the September influx identified themselves to UNHCR as having come from Al-Tash. As virtually all of the Iraqi refugees who arrived in September repatriated by year's end, there was no way to track whether this group claiming to be Iranians had been removed from the camps by the authorities, allowed to leave freely, or induced to return to Iraq with the Iraqi refugees.