An Evaluation of the Livelihoods of Afghan Refugees in Iran : From Interviews in Tehran and Mashhad

A preliminary evaluation of Afghan refugees in Iran is reported based on their backgrounds and their living situations. The field study was conducted from January 12 to 15, 2007. First we visited an Afghan refugee family and interviewed the members in Tehran. Next, we visited Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development (NICCO)'s office in Mashhad and interviewed two staff members and five students attending the vocational school managed by NICCO. The interviews were analyzed and evaluated and we have reached the following provisional conclusions. 1. Afghan refugees form and live in Afghan communities to avoid discrimination from the Iranian population in Iran. 2. Since Iran has a good infrastructure, Afghan refugees' living standard in Iran is higher than that in Bamyan, Afghanistan. 3. Resettlement and adjustment to life in Afghanistan has caused a lot of difficulties for refugees who do not own their houses or properties in Afghanistan, and who are second-generation Afghans born and raised in Iran. 4. The Iranian government has been promoting the repatriate policy for Afghan refugees and the support measures of educational and work opportunities for Afghan refugees in Iran have been declining. 5. The repatriated refugees often face hardships in daily life in Afghanistan. Those hardships cause some of them to go back to Iran or to repeatedly move their residences across international borders. They develop transnational networks of family and relatives as their survival strategies