Status: 11/17/2021 5:01 am
Thousands of people who have fled from neighboring Afghanistan arrive in Iran every day. Then they are literally standing on the street. Even those who find work live in fear – because Iran itself is at its limit.
“You must have seen how desperate my compatriots clung to planes and died in the process, right?” Firouzeh’s statement sounds less like a question than a sad statement. The 26-year-old Afghan woman sits in a small courtyard in the south of the Iranian capital Tehran and talks about the experiences of the past few months, about the dramatic events in Kabul during the Taliban’s seizure of power.
A few days before the Taliban took the Afghan capital, the young woman decided to flee with her husband Mohammad and their three children. “My children were always afraid of the Taliban,” says Firouzeh, gesturing with his hands. “So do we, of course. We were always hiding. The Taliban simply took women with them from the villages, even young girls. They rape and kill.”
They made their way as far as Tehran, where they initially stood on the street looking for work, without property, without papers and without money. One morning Hossein came by, a compatriot who had been living in Iran for several years. “I was on my way to the bakery to buy bread,” he says. “I just saw the family standing there. Mohammad greeted me and asked if I could find a job for him. I said: No, but I can take you in for a few days.”
The Afghan Farid Alizadeh came to Tehran in 2019. There he found work in a café, on the floor of which he sleeps at night.
Image: EPA
30,000 deportations in one week
The days have now turned into three months. The family sleeps at night in the garden of a property where Hossein works as a caretaker. During the day they sit in a nearby park, always afraid of being picked up by the Iranian police and deported. The social media are full of reports of such cases – and the International Organization for Migration also assumes that in the last week of October alone almost 30,000 Afghans were deported to their home country by the Iranian authorities despite the impending danger and the catastrophic humanitarian situation.
So also the 26-year-old Alina, whose real name we do not mention here. Her brother reports that he is very concerned about the sister who was arrested by the police in Tehran in broad daylight. The family belongs to the Hazara minority persecuted by the Taliban. The young woman is now on her own in Kabul and is currently hiding, he says. The rest of the family are looking for a way to get them back to Iran.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, an independent aid organization, international aid urgently needs to be increased, especially now that winter is coming. One cannot expect that the economically troubled Iran will be able to cope with this situation on its own, said General Secretary Jan Egeland during a visit to the country last week. His organization assumes that at least 300,000 Afghans have fled to Iran since the Taliban came to power alone. Furthermore, 4,000 to 5,000 new people come every day, according to Egeland. “Thousands of exhausted women, children and men cross the border from Afghanistan into Iran every day in search of safety.”
Millions of Afghans in Iran – without rights
A false security in view of the threat of deportation and the Iranian refugee policy in general. Because the reality of life for most Afghans in Iran is extremely precarious. According to the UN, more than three million Afghans were living in Iran before the Taliban came to power, most of them illegally. In many places they are exploited as cheap labor, and most Afghan children are denied access to the Iranian education system, even if they were born in Iran.
The mother of three, Firouzeh, does not want to stay in Iran any longer. Her family has no future here. Once or twice a week she makes her way to the German embassy in downtown Tehran. Afghans gather there regularly – in the hope of receiving information about possible asylum opportunities in Europe. “These countries have to worry about what will happen to us refugees,” asks Firouzeh.
Your chances, and those of most Afghans, of getting to Europe legally, are more than bad. Countries like Germany only accept hardship cases: For example, former employees of the Bundeswehr or German organizations. Neither applies to Firouzeh and her family. “I know Germany has already taken in many refugees,” she says. “But if Iran throws us out, where should we go? Back to the war?”