UNHCR Chief: Iranˈs Humanitarian Services To Refugees Praiseworthy

Tehran, Feb 18, IRNA – Humanitarian services offered to the Afghan and Iraqi refugees is praiseworthy, António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said here on Monday. ˈVisiting Iran is a great honor for me and I hereby appreciate the philanthropy and hospitality of the generous Iranian nation for their thirty-year hosting of the Afghan and Iraqi refugees on my own behalf, and on behalf of the governments around the globe,ˈ said Guterres in his joint press conference with the managing director of Interior Ministryˈs foreign refugees affairs. He added that the Islamic Republic of Iran offers these humanitarian services with the slight contributions of the international society, and that is due to the exalted teachings of Islam, especially on preserving the human dignity of the people who suffer pain and those in need of assistance. The UN commissioner said that he was visiting Iran to meet the Iranian Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry officials, adding, ˈIn this visit strategic approaches aimed at assisting the voluntary emigration of the Afghan refugees to their country were adopted and we have had good and constructive meetings thus far.ˈ On the budget of the UNHCR regional branch office in Tehran, he said that it is 39 million US dollars annually, 8 million dollars of which is allocated to its staffˈs salaries, and the rest is spent to assist the refugees. Guterres said that according to statistics 320 thousand Afghan children are studying in Iran, which is praiseworthy. ˈMost of the Afghan refugees are willing to return to their country, but they are faced with problems that need to be resolved by the Afghan government,ˈ he said. The UN High Commissioner in Refugees affairs asked the international community not to forget the Afghan refugees who wish to repatriate voluntarily and to assist them with their generous contributions in their way back to Afghanistan. A reporter asked about the mistreatment of the Iranian immigrants and refugees in transit and temporary camps in Austria and the Netherlands. He said that he did not know about the matter, but promised to pursue the issue as soon as possible. According to the latest UNHCR report the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to host one of the largest and most protracted refugee populations in the world, despite the voluntary return of hundreds of thousands Afghan and Iraqi refugees to their countries of origin over the past decade. According to the UNHCR Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrantsˈ Affairs (BAFIA), as of October 2011, the number of refugees registered with the authorities stood at over 882,000 (over 840,000 Afghans and some 42,000 Iraqis). In the Islamic Republic of Iran, 97 percent of all refugees are living in urban and semi-urban areas. Between January 2002 and July 2013, UNHCR assisted over 913,000 Afghans to return home voluntarily, and almost 30,000 Iraqi refugees have also been assisted to repatriate voluntarily since 2003. However, the number of people who have returned in 2013 remains low in comparison with previous years and the assistance program will need to continue./end