PRT HERAT: FEWER AFGHAN REFUGEES RETURNING FROM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000186 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR SA/FO, SA/A, S/CT, EUR/RPM NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND CENTCOM FOR POLAD, CG CFA-A, CG CJTF-76 E.O. 12958 N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV AF SUBJECT: PRT HERAT: FEWER AFGHAN REFUGEES RETURNING FROM IRAN; THE GROWTH OF MIGRANT LABOR? ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Latest data from United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) indicate significant increase in Afghan migrant labor in Iran. Undocumented Afghans who turn themselves in to Iranian authorities are treated as spontaneous returnees and given free transportation to the border. Few official Afghan han refugees are now returning from Iran, suggesting most of those still there wish to remain. Iranian revalidation of refugee identity cards in 2005 also lessened pressure on refugees to depart the country. Isolated and lawless Nimroz province is the major transit point for undocumented Afghans traveling to Iran. Zaranj, the provincial capital, is essentially an Iranian town. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) UNHCR Herat Chief Bernie Doyle reviewed with PRToff the latest data on Afghan returnees from Iran, showing an overall downward trend for 2005. According to the numbers, overall Afghan returnees decreased from over half a million in 2004 to about 384,000 last year. According to UNHCR, those Afghans categorized as assisted voluntary repatriates, documented Afghan refugees who returned with UNHCR assistance, dropped by a factor of six, from 377,505 to just 62,793. Spontaneous returnees -- those persons who may be documented as refugees but return urn to Afghanistan without UNHCR help -- tripled to 225,662. Deportee numbers -- non-refugee undocumented Afghans, almost always young men, who are forcibly returned by Iranian authorities -- continued a four-year upward trend, rising in 2005 almost 20 percent to 95,841. -------------- Damn Statistics -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Doyle explained that the raw numbers required elaboration. The huge increase in spontaneous returnees reflects, he said, the many Afghans residing and working illegally in Iran. Rather than refugees, they could be characterized more appropriately as migrant workers who serve as a cheap labor pool for Iranian companies. They also act, he added, as a safety valve for Afghan unemployed. When ready to return to Afghanistan, these individuals and family members generally turn themselves in to Iranian authorities who then provide transport to the border. Because there is no incarceration, the returnees are not technically deportees. s. ¶4. (SBU) The dramatic increase in spontaneous returnees from 2004 to 2005 also reflects a change in GOI policy towards Afghans resident in Iran. Prior to 2005, Doyle noted, Iranian authorities targeted documented refugees for forcible return, resulting in many assisted voluntary repatriations but generating high level protests from the GOA. The GOA complaints appear to have paid off. Last year, Iran shifted its focus to targeting undocumented persons. Thus, to avoid possible arrest, undocumented Afghans, when ready to return to Afghanistan, select the path of least resistance and receive the bonus of a free ride to the border. ¶5. (SBU) Another key reason for the drop off in official refugees, Doyle added, was the elimination of an important push factor in 2005. After many months of uncertainty when all Amayesh refugee identity cards had been invalidated, Iranian authorities in mid- 2005 decided to revalidate them. The GOI message to refugees: its okay to stay longer. onger. This softer approach by the GOI, however, has added a degree of operational uncertainty for UNHCR. Officially, over 800,000 Afghan refugees, and probably many more undocumented Afghans, reside in Iran. If refugees return in lower numbers, the UNHCR mission becomes more open-ended. How many years, Doyle wondered, will it be before the UNHCR program here can be completed? -------------- Abuses of Returnees -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Doyle noted that following complaints to the GOI by the GOA, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC),and UNHCR, there were fewer reports of acute abuses, including robbery, extortion, and sexual abuse, in immigration detention centers. He admitted, however, this did not mean the abuses have ended. UNHCR has no direct evidence of deaths, although stories of Afghans locked up in containers during the summer led him to suspect deaths had occurred. UNHCR hoped the GOA would keep this issue on the table in its bilateral discussions with Iran. . -------------- Zaranj, an Iranian Town -------------- ¶7. (SBU) In 2004, UNHCR reassigned Nimroz Province from the Kandahar to the Herat office, which focuses on Iran. The reason was clear. The key pipeline for illegal Afghan migration with Iran is through Nimroz and its provincial capital, Zaranj. Along with a couple of tiny NGOs, UNHCR is the only international presence in town. (UNHCR also has local staff on the Iranian side of the Zaranj bridge, in Zabol about 25 miles inside Iran, and in Zahedan, a major Iranian city a few hours south.) According to the UNHCR chief, Afghans come from all over Afghanistan and funnel through Zaranj where border controls are almost non- existent. In reverse, most deportees/returnees back to Afghanistan are channeled by the GOI through Zaranj -- not Islam Qala, Herat. ¶8. (SBU) Doyle described Zaranj as a town with no legal controls. Drugs flow freely through town in truck convoys. The provincial governor, Doyle alleged, is up to his eyeballs in the drug trade. In a market in Zaranj, farmers sell their few kilos of opium openly. Meanwhile, even Afghans, he said, are afraid to utilize the new road being built by the Indians from Zaranj to the Ring Road; many avoid it by traveling on an alternative southern route to Lashkar Gah. The Indian engineers working on the road are scared to death a fact confirmed by the Indian Consul General in a separate conversation with PRToff. ¶9. (SBU) Comment: Based on Doyles comments, most Afghans resident in Iran, whether refugees or undocumented migrants, remain in that country by choice -- the vast majority for economic reasons. Thus, the situation may be less a refugee crisis for Afghanistan and more a challenge for Iranian officials to cope with a flood of undocumented aliens. Long lines daily in front of the Iranian Consulate in Herat suggest Afghans holding valid Iranian visas are also crossing in large numbers. ¶10. (SBU) Comment continued: The increasing use of Nimroz mroz as the principal crossing for undocumented Afghans entering Iran, and Afghans deported by Iran back to Afghanistan, is logical given the lack of any governmental authority in that province. Already known was the widespread use of Nimroz for drug smuggling. Strengthening Afghan border controls there should become a more urgent task. End Comment.