- Austrian Red Cross
- Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD)
- Wiedner Hauptstraße 32, 1041 Wien
- T +43 1 589 00 583
- F +43 1 589 00 589
- info@ecoi.net
Document #1046717
RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Author)
January 30, 2016
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) monitoring group says Iran has "recruited thousands of undocumented Afghans living there" to fight in Tehran-organized militias in Syria.
The January 29 report says Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been offering Afghan refugees and migrants "incentives" to fight in Syria since at least late 2013.
Some of the Afghans that HRW spoke to said that "they were threatened with deportation back to Afghanistan" if they refused.
The report suggests that Iran's coercive tactics have prompted many Afghan males to flee Iran and head for Europe.
Iran officially claims the Afghans fighting in Syria are volunteers.
Some 3 million Afghans live in Iran, although only about 950,000 have legal refugee status there. "Their vulnerable legal position in Iran and the fear of deportation contribute to their decision" to fight in Syria, HRW writes.
Copyright (c) 2010-2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
ecoi.net is run by the Austrian Red Cross (department ACCORD) in cooperation with Informationsverbund Asyl & Migration. ecoi.net is funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Austrian Ministry of the Interior and Caritas Austria. ecoi.net is supported by ECRE & UNHCR.
