UNHCR tells media to highlight refugee problems

Concerned over a recent increase in violence directed against Afghans in some parts of the country, UNHCR in Tehran has called on Iranian journalists to work actively towards raising public awareness of the plight of refugees and the need for their protection. “Afghans in Iran are often blamed for unemployment, the spread of diseases, and taking part in unlawful activities,” the UNHCR acting chief of mission, Pierre Francois Pirlot, told IRIN on Monday. “Little is mentioned on their positive contributions to the economic growth of Iran as well,” he said. His comments follow a statement marking Journalist’s Day in Iran last week, which called on local journalists to be more active on refugee-related issues. “Dissemination of information on refugees living in Iran will be important both to raise people’s awareness of the problems of refugees and to inform the donor community of the problems hosting millions of refugees have caused for Iran,” the statement said. It added that for over two decades, the country had sheltered millions of Iraqi and Afghan refugees, and had been host to the largest refugee population in the world. Iran has always been praised for its humanitarian policy towards its refugee population, but the UN is now concerned over recent incidents of violence directed against Afghans. “It is believed that Iranian society should not let such rare acts of violence negatively affect Iran’s positive picture as a kind host in the eyes of the world’s people,” it said. According to the statement, the already desperate social and economic situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated even more over the past few months. Devastated by war and punished by nature, Afghanistan was the epicentre of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than 800,000 people displaced by drought and civil war in the past year, it said. Pirlot pointed out: “The role of the media is indeed important to raise awareness among both the international community and Iranian society on the situation of refugees in Iran and the tremendous efforts made by the country to assist refugees here.” However, “highlighting only the negative aspects of the situation is never helpful,” he said. “It is the press’s objectivity and impartiality that gives it credit in the eyes of the people. The press should write their stories as complete as possible so as to enable people to make their own judgments,” he added. With unemployment at around 15 percent, many Iranians today believe Afghans are taking jobs away from them. This fact, coupled with mass demonstrations by Iranians complaining about Afghans working illegally, and a string of violent incidents involving Iranians and Afghans, has led the government to toughen its stance towards the refugee community, as well as a general sense of xenophobia. According to figures released by the Iranian interior ministry on 11 July, of the 2,562,827 foreigners officially registered in the country, 2,355,427 are Afghans. This renders Iran, by a small margin, host to the largest number of Afghan refugees in the world today. Pakistan hosts another two million Afghans.