Repatriation of Afghan Refugees Continues
Azargoshasb said that according to an agreement reached with the Afghan government, 400,000 Afghans are to return to their country by the end of this year. Since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 20,2002), some 93,551 Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland, he added.
He told IRNA that the Afghans in the framework of the tripartite Voluntary Repatriation Program (VRP) rejoined their country by nine buses and lorries.
He further added that the BAFIA in the city of Zabol had so far repatriated some 4,114 Afghan refugees in 13 convoys to Afghanistan within the framework of the UNHCR-sponsored voluntary Repatriation Program (VRP) that began in April.
The voluntary repatriation of Afghans is governed by a tripartite accord signed in Geneva on April 3 by Iran, Afghanistan and UNHCR.
The program envisages the repatriation of 400,000 Afghan refugees by the end of the current Iranian year.
Since the implementation of the plan, all legal and political grounds for the continued stay of Afghan refugees in Iran have been removed and nationals of that country who remain are no longer subject to the 1951 Geneva Convention on refugees, officials said.
Afghan refugees will be required to present passports and valid visas to enter Iran as of the date of the accord and illegal entrants will be dealt with according to the laws of the land.
Under the accord, returning Afghans are to pass through the Dogharoun and Milak border checkpoints in Iran's northeastern Province of Khorasan and the southeastern Province of Sistan-Baluchestan, respectively.
Iran has been sheltering more than two million Afghan refugees fleeing from civil wars and severe droughts in Afghanistan over the past two decades.
thr 026 iran-afghanistan-refugees /gnr/ repatriation of afghan refugees continues zahedan, july 12, irna -- the head of the bureau for alien and foreign immigrant affairs (bafia) in zabol city, southeastern iranian province of sistan and baluchestan, reza azargoshasb, told irna here on thursday that 177 afghans have left the country for their homeland via milak and dogharoun border checkpoints.
azargoshasb said that according to an agreement reached with the afghan government, 400,000 afghans are to return to their country by the end of this year. since the beginning of the current iranian year (march 20,2002), some 93,551 afghan refugees have returned to their homeland, he added. he told irna that the afghans in the framework of the tripartite voluntary repatriation program (vrp) returned to their country by nine