Abstract
One in every nine refugees worldwide is from Afghanistan, and Iran is one of main host countries for these refugees. Close to 40 years of hosting Afghan refugees have depleted resources in Iran and resulted in promoting and sometimes forcing repatriation. Repatriation of Afghan refugees from Iran to Afghanistan has been long facilitated by humanitarian organizations with the premise that it will end prolonged displacement. However, lack of minimum standards of living, among other factors such as private covered living area, can make repatriation far from a durable solution. This study aims to highlight the value of access to shelter as a pull factor in ending forced displacement, by comparing Afghan refugees’ housing situation in Iran with returnees’ access to shelter in Afghanistan. Findings suggest that over 80% of surveyed Afghans in our study had access to private durable covered living space with minimum standards of living in Iran. The documents retrieved in our systematic literature review show that access to similar standards was between 30 and 73% among Afghan returnees. Results of our analysis call for reevaluation of repatriation as a durable solution for Afghan displacement in the absence of decent shelter conditions, and highlight a need for incorporation of shelter assistance programs into repatriation plans.
Highlights
In the mid-1970s, when conflict and political disputes started in Afghanistan, Iran opened its borders and sheltered Afghan refugees on prima facie basis (Margesson 2007)
Study findings show that access to the reviewed minimum standards of shelter could be a challenge for Afghan returnees
It is estimated that 900,000 people will need shelter assistance in Afghanistan in 2018 and among them are 440,000 returnees (United States Agency for International Development [USAID] 2017)
Summary
In the mid-1970s, when conflict and political disputes started in Afghanistan, Iran opened its borders and sheltered Afghan refugees on prima facie basis (Margesson 2007). This means that being an Afghan was sufficient evidence for receiving protection in Iran. Conflict and instability in Afghanistan continued with the Communist coup and the Soviet Union’s invasion in 1979 (Margesson 2007; Ruiz 2004) During this period, which coincided with the Iranian Islamic Revolution, Afghans were eligible to receive refugee status at the borders of Iran as religious immigrants (Moravej 2014). After 1992, Iran gradually put strategies in place to limit the number of new refugee entries at its borders, encouraging
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