UNHCR hails Iran’s aid to refugees

“Iran has played an active and especial role in the region regarding refugees' affairs,” IRNA quoted Linn Mi Lee, the outgoing head of UNHCR bureau in Mashhad in Iran’s eastern Province of Khorasan Razavi.

The UNHCR official made the remarks during a meeting with Khorasan Razavi Governor General Mahmoud Salahi on Saturday at the end of her 4-year tenure in Iran.

“Mashhad and Khorasan Razavi Province have hosted a large number of Afghan and Iraqi refugees in the past years and spared no effort to support them,” she said.

Salehi, for his part, said the province which has a joint border with Afghanistan has hosted a great number of Afghan refugees and has provided facilities and social services to them.

“Currently some 60,000 children of Afghan refugees are studying in the schools of Khorasan Razavi province,” the governor general said.

IRNA quoted Iran’s Deputy Interior Minister in Security Affairs Ali Abdollahi as saying in November, 2010 that "There are currently one million refugees and two million illegal immigrants in Iran."

The Iranian official added that 65 percent of Afghan refugees in Iran are concentrated in 20 cities and called for the establishment of schools, medical centers, parks and community and sanitation services for displaced Afghans.

As of October 1, 2010, there were officially 1,029,320 registered Afghan refugees and some 42,854 registered Iraqi refugees in Iran, according to the UN.

A donor group consisting of Australia, Canada, Finland, Norway and Sweden was formed in 2010 to support Iran’s efforts in aiding refugees.