EUAA COI Report. Situation of Afghan refugees

English

This report describes the situation of Afghan refugees in Iran. Afghans living in Iran can be broadly divided into four main groups: Amayesh cardholders, Afghan passport holders with Iranian visas, undocumented Afghan refugees and Afghans registered during headcount exercises. Sometimes the sources do not differentiate between the four categories. Where possible the situation for each main group is described. The main focus of this report lies on the Afghan refugees and not the Afghan passport holders with Iranian visa.

Split into five chapters, this report describes the presence of Afghan refugees in Iran, examines their legal status, their treatment by the Iranian society and the state, cross border movements and their socio-economic situation in the country.

The reference period for this report is 11 October 2020 until 21 October 2022. The drafting period finished on 21 October 2022, and additional information was added to the report as a result of the quality review process during the review implementation up until 24 November 2022.

EUAA would like to acknowledge ACCORD, the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation, as the drafter of this report.

The following national asylum and migration departments together with EUAA reviewed this report:

- Greece, Asylum Processes and Training Department, Greek Asylum Service, Ministry of Migration and Asylum;

- Denmark, Danish Immigration Service.

This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019).

Policy

The policy implemented by the Commissioner General is based on a thorough analysis of accurate and up-to-date information on the general situation in the country of origin. This information is collated in a professional manner from various, objective sources, including the EUAA, the UNHCR, relevant international human rights organisations, non-governmental organisations, professional literature and coverage in the media. When determining policy, the Commissioner General does not only examine the COI Focuses written by Cedoca and published on this website, as these deal with just one aspect of the general situation in the country of origin. The fact that a COI Focus could be out-of-date does not mean that the policy that is being implemented by the Commissioner General is no longer up-to-date.

When assessing an application for asylum, the Commissioner General not only considers the actual situation in the country of origin at the moment of decision-making, he also takes into account the individual situation and personal circumstances of the applicant for international protection. Every asylum application is examined individually. An applicant must comprehensively demonstrate that he has a well-founded fear of persecution or that there is a clear personal risk of serious harm. He cannot, therefore, simply refer back to the general conditions in his country, but must also present concrete, credible and personal facts.

There is no policy paper for this country available on the website.

Land: 
Iran

Information about the asylum procedure, tailored to the asylum seeker, can be found at : asyluminbelgium.be.