Refugees against refugees: the Iranian Migrants’ perception of the human rights of Afghans in Iran

Abstract

ABSTRACTVarious laws and policies exist in Iran that discriminate against people labelled as ‘others’. The state-owned and state-controlled media outlets, the most important being the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), are used to publicise and to promote such laws and regulations in the form of propaganda. While the laws and regulations are state administered, Iranians are the targeted audience of such propaganda and are encouraged to take heed and to act on the ‘otherness’. The Iranian public is legally incited to violate the human rights of the ‘other’. This article focuses on the recent Iranians migrants and their thoughts on human rights of Afghan refugees in Iran as an ‘other’ in relation to the appropriateness of the representation of the human rights of Afghan refugees on IRIB. The research draws on quantitative and qualitative data from a study of 101 recent Iranian migrants. An analysis of the data reveals discrimination of Iranian migrants, a majority of whom are refugees themselves, against the Afghan refugees in Iran. These results are indicative of a larger human rights issue within Iran that goes beyond the state policies and regulations and shows a lack of knowledge of the human rights of refugees, on the part of the Iranian population.