UNHCR denies establishing camps within Afghanistan

UNHCR on Monday categorically denied a report that the agency was involved in the establishment of three refugee camps along the border with Iran on the Afghan side. "We are not involved in setting up sites on the Afghan side of the border," Bo Schack, the agency's chief of mission in the Iranian capital, Tehran, told IRIN. "As stated by the UN Secretary General and [by] the [UN] High Commissioner for Refugees, our position remains the same. We hope that the Iranian authorities will open the border should an influx occur, so that all means of assistance can be given to the displaced," he said. Schack's comments follow an AFP report on Sunday, quoting a government employee, which said that with the assistance of the UNHCR, the government had set up three refugee camps five kilometres inside Afghan territory from Iran's southeastern border. According to the report, the three camps were set up in Afghanistan's Mokati and Masjedak regions, said Rostam Sadrieh from the Zabol governerate in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province. Meanwhile, a UNHCR official in the northeastern city of Mashhad confirmed a report of deportations of Afghan refugees last week by Iranian authorities at the main border crossing between the two countries. "On 9 October, three bus-loads of Afghans from Sefid Sang camp were deported to Afghanistan through the Dogharun exit point," a UNHCR spokesman, Mohammad Nouri, told IRIN. "In fact, what happened was an unfortunate incident that, according to the local government authorities, happened by mistake," he said. An official from the local Bureau for Aliens and Immigrant Affairs (BAFIA) called it an "uncoordinated move" that was not in line with the government's practice since mid-September. The official, in the Iranian northeastern Khorasan Province, hoped similar incidents would not take place in the future, he added. In an effort to avert a new wave of refugees entering the country following the 11 September attacks in the US, Iran closed its borders with Afghanistan. The United Nations estimates that up to 1.5 million Afghans may attempt to flee the country following US-led retaliatory strikes on Taliban-held Afghanistan, which began on 7 October. Of this number, it estimates that up to 400,000 Afghans could seek refuge in Iran, which shares over 900 km of border with Afghanistan. According to BAFIA, Iran currently hosts 2.7 million Afghan refugees, and has told the UN it would prefer to assist Afghans in need by building camps on the Afghan side of the border. Tehran maintains it is host to the largest number of Afghan refugees in the world, and has called for greater international humanitarian assistance to help shoulder the burden.