"The United Nations and the European Union are expected to make efforts to
provide living situation for Afghans [in Afghanistan] in a way that they return
to their country voluntarily and also provide them with humanitarian aid in
areas of education and medicine while they reside in Iran,” he told reporters
after a meeting with Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European commissioner for
migration and home affairs, in Tehran.
Rahmani Fazli noted that Iran is ready to cooperate with the EU in helping
the refugees.
Elsewhere, he said that as a neighboring country to Afghanistan, Iran has
been harmed the most in fighting drug trade and also preventing trafficking of
drugs to Europe.
He called for expanding cooperation with the EU in fighting drug
trafficking. The interior minister also said that Iran and Europe will expand
cooperation in countering terrorism.
UN: Ayatollah Khamenei’s order to grant refugees education was
extraordinary
An order by Ayatollah Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, to grant
refugees education was "extraordinary”, Nicolas Oberlin, the deputy regional
director of the United Nations World Food Program, told ILNA news agency in an
interview published on Monday.
"The policy of supporting refugees is growing in Iran and we are happy to
see how well Iran is doing its job regarding refugees,” Oberlin said.
The UN official added that besides the Leader’s decree on education for
refugees, Iran’s healthcare and insurance services for refugees has "turned Iran
into a leading country regarding refugee affairs”.
Iran’s policy to collect documents over groups who had no identification
documents is another noteworthy policy, he pointed out. "This process has
started recently and is a very positive policy. We try to help Iran reach its
goals more and more effectively.”
In late 2016, Sivanka Dhanapala, the then UNHCR representative in Tehran,
said the Islamic Republic has been hosting refugees for almost four decades.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran generously hosts one of the largest and most
protracted refugee situations in the world. Estimates from the Government of
Iran indicate that 951,142 Afghan refugees and 28,268 Iraqi refugees reside in
Iran, in addition to 620,000 Afghans who hold Afghan passports and Iranian
visas. The government also estimates that there are approximately 1.5-2 million
undocumented Afghans also living in Iran,” Dhanapala said.
In May 2015, Ayatollah Khamenei issued a decree to the Ministry of
Education allowing all Afghan children of school age, regardless of
documentation status, to attend primary and secondary school education,
resulting in over 350,000 Afghan and Iraqi children being enrolled in the
2015-2016 school year. In addition, all refugees of school-age are now exempt
from paying costly refugee-specific tuition fees, which encourages even
vulnerable and economically challenged families to send their children to
school.
Source: Tehran Times