• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Iran Prepares Second Phase of Return of Afghan Refugees

Posted on: Thursday, 15 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

Text of report by Iranian radio on 14 September

The general manager of the [Iranian] Department for Refugees and Foreign Subjects of Khorasan Province has announced that the second phase of the programme for Afghan refugees is to be set up across Iran in Aqrab 1384 [October - November 2005].

Addressing a press conference in Mashhad today, Hamid Reza Mowahedizadah said that the programme would be carried out for two months from the second half of Aqrab and all the refugees who have new identity cards, documents distributed during the first phase of the programme, short-term IDs, blue cards [cards issued to legal Afghan refugees] and those without the necessary documents should take part in this programme.

He said the aim was to collect information regarding the situation of refugees in the Islamic Republic of Iran and to distribute documents to them.

In response to a question by a Radio Dari correspondent about the registration of Afghan students at Iranian schools, Mr Mowahedizadah stated that those refugees who have obtained ID cards should get registration cards from the Refugees Department, adding that the payment would be 200,000 Rials [25 US dollars] for each Afghan student.

Talking about the opportunity for refugees to return home, the official expressed hope that refugees in Iran would return to their homeland before the beginning of next year, using the facilities provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

More News in this Category