Latest news with #MihyungPark
Egypt Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
Iran expels half a million Afghans in 16-day stretch since recent conflict with Israel, UN says
CNN — More than half a million Afghans have been expelled from Iran in the 16 days since the conflict with Israel ended, according to the United Nations, in what may be one of the largest forced movements of population this decade. For months, Tehran has declared its intention to remove the millions of undocumented Afghans who carry out lower-paid labor across Iran, often in tough conditions. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said 508,426 Afghans have left Iran via the Iranian-Afghanistan border between June 24 and July 9. A startling 33,956 crossed Wednesday and 30,635 on Tuesday, after a peak of 51,000 on Friday, ahead of a Sunday deadline from Iran for undocumented Afghans to leave. The deportations – part of a program Iran announced in March – have radically increased in pace since the 12-day conflict with Israel, fueled by unsubstantiated claims that Afghans had spied for Israel prior to and during the attacks. Scant evidence has emerged to support claims of Afghan migrants assisting Israel has emerged, leading critics to suggest Iran is simply fulfilling a long-held ambition to reduce its illegal Afghan population and focusing internal dissent on a vulnerable minority. Conditions for returnees are stark, with temperatures as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees celsius, with reception centers on the Afghanistan border struggling. Mihyung Park, chief of mission for the UN's international organization for migration, told CNN on Tuesday, 'There are thousands of people under the sun – and you know how hot Herat can be. It is quite dire. Last week was quite massive.' Park said half of the year's returnees had arrived since June 1, with 250,000 in one July week. 'Last week it was about 400 unaccompanied, separated children – that is a lot,' she added. Footage from the Islam Qala border crossing shows hundreds of migrants awaiting processing and transport, often in the punishing summer Afghan heat. Many have lived for years in Iran, often in semi-permanent conditions despite lacking documentation, and found their lives uprooted in minutes in the recent crackdown. Bashir, in his twenties, said in an interview in Islam Qala, a border town in western Afghanistan, that he was detained by police in Tehran and whisked to a detention center. 'First, they took 10 million tomans (about $200) from me. Then they sent me to the detention center where I was kept for two nights and they forced me to pay another 2 million ($50). In the detention center they wouldn't give us food or drinking water. There were around 200 people there, and they would beat us up, they would abuse us,' he said. Parisa, 11, was standing with her parents as she described being told she could not attend her school again this year, heralding her family's deportation. Schooling for girls in Afghanistan is restricted under the Taliban. 'We spent six years in Iran before they told us to apply for the exit letter and leave Iran,' she said. 'We did have a legal census document, but they told us to leave Iran immediately.' The abrupt rise in deportations and claims of Afghans spying has attracted international condemnation. The UN's special rapporteur to Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, posted on X at the weekend: 'Hundreds of Afghans & members of ethnic & religious minorities detained #Iran accused of 'espionage.' Also reports of incitement to discrimination & violence in the media labelling Afghans & minority communities as traitors & using dehumanising language.' 'We've always striven to be good hosts, but national security is a priority, and naturally illegal nationals must return,' Iran's government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on July 1, according to Reuters. State media has also aired footage of an alleged Afghan 'spy' for Israel confessing to working for another Afghan who was based in Germany. 'That person contacted me and said he needed information on certain locations,' the alleged spy claims. 'He asked for some locations, and I provided them. I also received $2,000 from him.' The report did not identify the alleged spy or provide evidence to support the claim. State media has also released footage of Tehran police rounding up migrants, who the correspondent identified as mostly Afghans, with its officers in pursuit of suspects across open fields. Potential deportees are moved onto buses and forcibly marched off the vehicles to an unknown destination. The state television correspondent in the footage asks one Tehran employer of the alleged illegal migrant: 'Why did you hire the Afghan? It's against the law.' The alleged employer replies, 'I know! But I have to pay them so they can go back. They want to go and (are) waiting to get paid.' In total, more than 1.6 million Afghan refugees have returned from Iran and Pakistan this year alone, surpassing UNHCR's forecasts halfway through 2025. The UN agency now predicts that as many as 3 million people could return to Afghanistan by the end of the year. Arafat Jamal, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Representative in Afghanistan warned in a press briefing on Friday that Afghanistan remains 'wholly unprepared' to receive the influx. 'We foresee dramatic challenges in housing, protecting and employing returnees, in a parched and stagnant nation,' he warned. A recent UNDP report shows 70 percent of Afghans live at subsistence level, and the country is grappling with severe drought and a deteriorating human rights situation, especially for women and girls. Reporting contributed by CNN's Nina Subkhanberdina.
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First Post
11-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Why has Iran expelled half a million Afghans in 15 days?
Iran has expelled over half a million Afghans since the conflict with Israel ended in what rights groups have called one of the biggest forced movements of population in decades. Millions from Afghanistan had fled to neighbouring Iran after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Many of them work in low-wage jobs and allege that they face discrimination daily read more Millions from Afghanistan had fled to neighbouring Iran after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Reuters Iran has expelled over half a million Afghans since the war with Israel ended. The United Nations and other international organisations have called the development one of the biggest forced movement of population in decades. Millions from Afghanistan had fled to neighbouring Iran after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Many of them work in low-wage jobs and as labourers and allege that they face discrimination on a daily basis. But what do we know? And why has Tehran expelled nearly half a million Afghans? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What do we know? Iran initially announced the deportation program in March. Tehran had set a July 6 deadline for Afghan migrants to leave. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been deported from Iran over the past week alone. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has estimated that 508,426 Afghans have left Iran via the border between June 24 and July 9 alone. That figure was 33,956 last Wednesday, 30,635 last Tuesday, and 51,000 last Friday. That figure in June was over 256,000. Some reports say that even those with valid visas have been forcibly removed. The Afghans have been making the crossing in searing weather. Conditions have hit as high as 40 degrees Celsius. Footage shows hundreds of migrants queuing up at the Islam Qala border in Western Afghanistan. Mihyung Park, chief of mission for the UN's international organisation for migration, told CNN, 'There are thousands of people under the sun - and you know how hot Herat can be. It is quite dire. Last week was quite massive.' Making things worse, many of these children are unaccompanied minors. 'Last week it was about 400 unaccompanied, separated children – that is a lot,' Park added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Some say they were have been in Iran for years, and that they were treated badly by the authorities. 'First, they took $200 (Rs 17,150) from me. Then they sent me to the detention center where I was kept for two nights and they forced me to pay another $50 (Rs 4,200). In the detention center they wouldn't give us food or drinking water. There were around 200 people there, and they would beat us up, they would abuse us,' Bashir told CNN. A young Afghan migrant who lives in Tehran told _RFE/RL h_is father was ill-treated by the police. 'My father was arrested and tortured on charges of espionage,' he said. 'His feet were tied with chains, and he was not given food or water. He was detained by the Iranian police for several days and later deported to Afghanistan. The situation here for Afghan refugees is very bad,' he added. This individual said his visa has also expired. He is fearful of the same treatment at the hands of the authorities. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Refugees, most of whom are women and children, are being forced to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan under dire circumstances. Image courtesy: UN Women 'The situation of Afghan refugees has deteriorated further over the past week or two', another refugee told the outlet. 'Even those who have legal status and work live in fear. Most of our friends have been expelled. The situation is very worrying,' he told RFE/RL. An Afghan woman who has lived in Iran for over a decade is now heading home with her five children. 'I didn't even get to pack their clothes. They came in the middle of the night. I begged them to give me just two days to collect my things. But they didn't listen. They threw us out like garbage', she told The Guardian. 'From Shiraz to Zahedan [close to the Afghan border], they took everything from us. My bank card had $149 (Rs 12,700). They charged $1 (Rs 85) for a bottle of water, $2 (Rs 170) for a cold sandwich. And if you didn't have it, your child went without,' she added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The woman now says she has no prospects in Afghanistan – and has to support her children and elderly mother. Things are even worse for women who are making the crossing. This is because under Afghan law, they are not allowed to venture out without male guardians. Anyone violating the law is subject to flogging. Human rights groups have sounded the alarm at these developments, saying most migrants have 'nothing but the clothes on their back' and 'in urgent need of food, medical care, and support.' The Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said they have faced 'exhaustion, hunger, and uncertainty on their journey home' amid high temperatures. Officials say several people have died during the crossings, though numbers remain uncertain. Why has Tehran expelled half a million Afghans? The development comes in the backdrop of spurious claims by Iranian media and some officials that Israel used Afghans to spy on the country during the conflict. State media has aired footage of an Afghan 'spy' confessing his crimes. The individual claimed he worked for someone in Germany. 'That person contacted me and said he needed information on certain locations,' the alleged spy said. 'He asked for some locations, and I provided them. I also received $2,000 from him.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, wrote on X last week that 'hundreds' of Afghans have been 'accused of espionage.' Bennett also voiced apprehension about Iran's media 'labeling Afghans [and] minority communities as traitors'. Immigration has long been an issue in Iran, which has played host to the largest number of refugees anywhere in the world. It appears that the authorities are using this as a pretext to carry out their long-awaited plans. Experts say authorities in Iran are using such claims as a pretext to carry out their long-awaited plans. AFP 'The gloves are off,' Arafat Jamal, the UN refugee agency representative in Kabul, told The New York Times. 'There's a bit of a frenzy at the moment, no one is going to oppose deportations of Afghans right now so those who wish to deport them have been ramping it up.' 'We've always striven to be good hosts, but national security is a priority, and naturally illegal nationals must return,' Iran's government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on July 1. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The situation in Afghanistan bears watching too. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have returned from Pakistan, which is also planning a similar programme. The UNHCR has claimed that at least 1.2 million Afghans have been forcibly sent back from Iran and Afghanistan. The agency warns that this could cause a crisis in Afghanistan. With inputs from agencies
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iran expels half a million Afghans in 16-day stretch since recent conflict with Israel, UN says
More than half a million Afghans have been expelled from Iran in the 16 days since the conflict with Israel ended, according to the United Nations, in what may be one of the largest forced movements of population this decade. For months, Tehran has declared its intention to remove the millions of undocumented Afghans who carry out lower-paid labor across Iran, often in tough conditions. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said 508,426 Afghans have left Iran via the Iranian-Afghanistan border between June 24 and July 9. A startling 33,956 crossed Wednesday and 30,635 on Tuesday, after a peak of 51,000 on Friday, ahead of a Sunday deadline from Iran for undocumented Afghans to leave. The deportations – part of a program Iran announced in March – have radically increased in pace since the 12-day conflict with Israel, fueled by unsubstantiated claims that Afghans had spied for Israel prior to and during the attacks. Scant evidence has emerged to support claims of Afghan migrants assisting Israel has emerged, leading critics to suggest Iran is simply fulfilling a long-held ambition to reduce its illegal Afghan population and focusing internal dissent on a vulnerable minority. Conditions for returnees are stark, with temperatures as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees celsius, with reception centers on the Afghanistan border struggling. Mihyung Park, chief of mission for the UN's international organization for migration, told CNN on Tuesday, 'There are thousands of people under the sun - and you know how hot Herat can be. It is quite dire. Last week was quite massive.' Park said half of the year's returnees had arrived since June 1, with 250,000 in one July week. 'Last week it was about 400 unaccompanied, separated children – that is a lot,' she added. Footage from the Islam Qala border crossing shows hundreds of migrants awaiting processing and transport, often in the punishing summer Afghan heat. Many have lived for years in Iran, often in semi-permanent conditions despite lacking documentation, and found their lives uprooted in minutes in the recent crackdown. Bashir, in his twenties, said in an interview in Islam Qala, a border town in western Afghanistan, that he was detained by police in Tehran and whisked to a detention center. 'First, they took 10 million tomans (about $200) from me. Then they sent me to the detention center where I was kept for two nights and they forced me to pay another 2 million ($50). In the detention center they wouldn't give us food or drinking water. There were around 200 people there, and they would beat us up, they would abuse us,' he said. Parisa, 11, was standing with her parents as she described being told she could not attend her school again this year, heralding her family's deportation. Schooling for girls in Afghanistan is restricted under the Taliban. 'We spent six years in Iran before they told us to apply for the exit letter and leave Iran,' she said. 'We did have a legal census document, but they told us to leave Iran immediately.' The abrupt rise in deportations and claims of Afghans spying has attracted international condemnation. The UN's special rapporteur to Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, posted on X at the weekend: 'Hundreds of Afghans & members of ethnic & religious minorities detained #Iran accused of 'espionage.' Also reports of incitement to discrimination & violence in the media labelling Afghans & minority communities as traitors & using dehumanising language.' 'We've always striven to be good hosts, but national security is a priority, and naturally illegal nationals must return,' Iran's government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on July 1, according to Reuters. State media has also aired footage of an alleged Afghan 'spy' for Israel confessing to working for another Afghan who was based in Germany. 'That person contacted me and said he needed information on certain locations,' the alleged spy claims. 'He asked for some locations, and I provided them. I also received $2,000 from him.' The report did not identify the alleged spy or provide evidence to support the claim. State media has also released footage of Tehran police rounding up migrants, who the correspondent identified as mostly Afghans, with its officers in pursuit of suspects across open fields. Potential deportees are moved onto buses and forcibly marched off the vehicles to an unknown destination. The state television correspondent in the footage asks one Tehran employer of the alleged illegal migrant: 'Why did you hire the Afghan? It's against the law.' The alleged employer replies, 'I know! But I have to pay them so they can go back. They want to go and (are) waiting to get paid.'
CNN
11-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Iran expels half a million Afghans since recent conflict with Israel, UN says
More than half a million Afghans have been expelled from Iran in the 16 days since the conflict with Israel ended, according to the United Nations, in what may be one of the largest forced movements of population this decade. For months, Tehran has declared its intention to remove the millions of undocumented Afghans who carry out lower-paid labor across Iran, often in tough conditions. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said 508,426 Afghans have left Iran via the Iranian-Afghanistan border between June 24 and July 9. A startling 33,956 crossed Wednesday and 30,635 on Tuesday, after a peak of 51,000 on Friday, ahead of a Sunday deadline from Iran for undocumented Afghans to leave. The deportations – part of a program Iran announced in March – have radically increased in pace since the 12-day conflict with Israel, fueled by unsubstantiated claims that Afghans had spied for Israel prior to and during the attacks. Scant evidence has emerged to support claims of Afghan migrants assisting Israel has emerged, leading critics to suggest Iran is simply fulfilling a long-held ambition to reduce its illegal Afghan population and focusing internal dissent on a vulnerable minority. Conditions for returnees are stark, with temperatures as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees celsius, with reception centers on the Afghanistan border struggling. Mihyung Park, chief of mission for the UN's international organization for migration, told CNN on Tuesday, 'There are thousands of people under the sun - and you know how hot Herat can be. It is quite dire. Last week was quite massive.' Park said half of the year's returnees had arrived since June 1, with 250,000 in one July week. 'Last week it was about 400 unaccompanied, separated children – that is a lot,' she added. Footage from the Islam Qala border crossing shows hundreds of migrants awaiting processing and transport, often in the punishing summer Afghan heat. Many have lived for years in Iran, often in semi-permanent conditions despite lacking documentation, and found their lives uprooted in minutes in the recent crackdown. Bashir, in his twenties, said in an interview in Islam Qala, a border town in western Afghanistan, that he was detained by police in Tehran and whisked to a detention center. 'First, they took 10 million tomans (about $200) from me. Then they sent me to the detention center where I was kept for two nights and they forced me to pay another 2 million ($50). In the detention center they wouldn't give us food or drinking water. There were around 200 people there, and they would beat us up, they would abuse us,' he said. Parisa, 11, was standing with her parents as she described being told she could not attend her school again this year, heralding her family's deportation. Schooling for girls in Afghanistan is restricted under the Taliban. 'We spent six years in Iran before they told us to apply for the exit letter and leave Iran,' she said. 'We did have a legal census document, but they told us to leave Iran immediately.' The abrupt rise in deportations and claims of Afghans spying has attracted international condemnation. The UN's special rapporteur to Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, posted on X at the weekend: 'Hundreds of Afghans & members of ethnic & religious minorities detained #Iran accused of 'espionage.' Also reports of incitement to discrimination & violence in the media labelling Afghans & minority communities as traitors & using dehumanising language.' 'We've always striven to be good hosts, but national security is a priority, and naturally illegal nationals must return,' Iran's government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on July 1, according to Reuters. State media has also aired footage of an alleged Afghan 'spy' for Israel confessing to working for another Afghan who was based in Germany. 'That person contacted me and said he needed information on certain locations,' the alleged spy claims. 'He asked for some locations, and I provided them. I also received $2,000 from him.' The report did not identify the alleged spy or provide evidence to support the claim. State media has also released footage of Tehran police rounding up migrants, who the correspondent identified as mostly Afghans, with its officers in pursuit of suspects across open fields. Potential deportees are moved onto buses and forcibly marched off the vehicles to an unknown destination. The state television correspondent in the footage asks one Tehran employer of the alleged illegal migrant: 'Why did you hire the Afghan? It's against the law.' The alleged employer replies, 'I know! But I have to pay them so they can go back. They want to go and (are) waiting to get paid.'
CNN
11-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Iran expels half a million Afghans since recent conflict with Israel, UN says
More than half a million Afghans have been expelled from Iran in the 16 days since the conflict with Israel ended, according to the United Nations, in what may be one of the largest forced movements of population this decade. For months, Tehran has declared its intention to remove the millions of undocumented Afghans who carry out lower-paid labor across Iran, often in tough conditions. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said 508,426 Afghans have left Iran via the Iranian-Afghanistan border between June 24 and July 9. A startling 33,956 crossed Wednesday and 30,635 on Tuesday, after a peak of 51,000 on Friday, ahead of a Sunday deadline from Iran for undocumented Afghans to leave. The deportations – part of a program Iran announced in March – have radically increased in pace since the 12-day conflict with Israel, fueled by unsubstantiated claims that Afghans had spied for Israel prior to and during the attacks. Scant evidence has emerged to support claims of Afghan migrants assisting Israel has emerged, leading critics to suggest Iran is simply fulfilling a long-held ambition to reduce its illegal Afghan population and focusing internal dissent on a vulnerable minority. Conditions for returnees are stark, with temperatures as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees celsius, with reception centers on the Afghanistan border struggling. Mihyung Park, chief of mission for the UN's international organization for migration, told CNN on Tuesday, 'There are thousands of people under the sun - and you know how hot Herat can be. It is quite dire. Last week was quite massive.' Park said half of the year's returnees had arrived since June 1, with 250,000 in one July week. 'Last week it was about 400 unaccompanied, separated children – that is a lot,' she added. Footage from the Islam Qala border crossing shows hundreds of migrants awaiting processing and transport, often in the punishing summer Afghan heat. Many have lived for years in Iran, often in semi-permanent conditions despite lacking documentation, and found their lives uprooted in minutes in the recent crackdown. Bashir, in his twenties, said in an interview in Islam Qala, a border town in western Afghanistan, that he was detained by police in Tehran and whisked to a detention center. 'First, they took 10 million tomans (about $200) from me. Then they sent me to the detention center where I was kept for two nights and they forced me to pay another 2 million ($50). In the detention center they wouldn't give us food or drinking water. There were around 200 people there, and they would beat us up, they would abuse us,' he said. Parisa, 11, was standing with her parents as she described being told she could not attend her school again this year, heralding her family's deportation. Schooling for girls in Afghanistan is restricted under the Taliban. 'We spent six years in Iran before they told us to apply for the exit letter and leave Iran,' she said. 'We did have a legal census document, but they told us to leave Iran immediately.' The abrupt rise in deportations and claims of Afghans spying has attracted international condemnation. The UN's special rapporteur to Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, posted on X at the weekend: 'Hundreds of Afghans & members of ethnic & religious minorities detained #Iran accused of 'espionage.' Also reports of incitement to discrimination & violence in the media labelling Afghans & minority communities as traitors & using dehumanising language.' 'We've always striven to be good hosts, but national security is a priority, and naturally illegal nationals must return,' Iran's government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on July 1, according to Reuters. State media has also aired footage of an alleged Afghan 'spy' for Israel confessing to working for another Afghan who was based in Germany. 'That person contacted me and said he needed information on certain locations,' the alleged spy claims. 'He asked for some locations, and I provided them. I also received $2,000 from him.' The report did not identify the alleged spy or provide evidence to support the claim. State media has also released footage of Tehran police rounding up migrants, who the correspondent identified as mostly Afghans, with its officers in pursuit of suspects across open fields. Potential deportees are moved onto buses and forcibly marched off the vehicles to an unknown destination. The state television correspondent in the footage asks one Tehran employer of the alleged illegal migrant: 'Why did you hire the Afghan? It's against the law.' The alleged employer replies, 'I know! But I have to pay them so they can go back. They want to go and (are) waiting to get paid.'
