Nearly two months have passed since the twelve-day Iran-Israel war, but migrants from Afghanistan have faced various pressures from that day until now. Conspiracies, xenophobia, and labeling migrants from Afghanistan as spies have brought everyone to despair.
As a migrant at risk, I can neither return to Afghanistan nor escape the humiliation and insults of our neighboring country. Although the Iranian government has recently deported approximately one million Afghanistan migrants, and this process continues, there is no one to hear our voice.
Human rights activists and those who had sought refuge in Iran out of fear of the Taliban now face the danger of deportation. I am in contact with a number of these women and know that many of them are suffering from poor mental and psychological conditions due to pressures, threats, and xenophobia. Everyone fears falling back into the Taliban’s clutches. Our main concern is deportation and facing Taliban violence; otherwise, we would have packed our bags and returned to our country by now. Returning to our homeland would be better than enduring all this suffering and misery in a neighboring country.
Xenophobia has reached its peak in corners of Tehran. We have witnessed several serial murders, but no one has followed up on them. Hostage-taking, extortion, threats, and verbal and physical violence are also part of the deplorable situation imposed on Afghan migrants. I have repeatedly seen in the metro and public places how our poor people endure ugly and inhumane behavior. These days, many do not leave their homes out of fear and are practically imprisoned in their houses.
This is only part of our misery. Following the forced deportation order, places to live have become limited; no one is willing to rent houses to migrants. Access to services has either been prohibited or restricted, and we are even helpless in paying house rent. There is no institution to register our complaints or hear our voices.
On the other hand, the United Nations has taken no effective action for homeless and at-risk migrants. If war breaks out again, Afghan migrants will be the first victims of this chaos. Fear of war and uncertainty ripple through the gaze of each migrant.
This concern does not only relate to migrants who came to Iran after the fall; even those who settled in this country forty years ago and have residence cards face the same problem. They have no difference from illegal migrants: all are equally humiliated, arrested, and face deportation.
When I see all this oppression and chaos, I feel sorry for myself and other migrants and shed tears over our homelessness. We have been forgotten in Iran. Even countries that had promised to transfer us to Europe have stopped their work, and the United Nations has also halted the processing procedure. We are the most wretched migrants in the world; abandoned among miseries, without anyone fulfilling their promises.
As a woman and human rights defender from Afghanistan, I ask all international institutions and organizations and countries that are members of the United Nations to pay serious attention to the situation of Afghan migrants in Iran and Pakistan.
You can read the Persian version of this Afghan woman’s story here:
