UN refugee chief lauds Iran's generosity in hosting Afghans

Tehran, Nov 25, IRNA The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has lauded Iran's long record of generosity in hosting uprooted Afghans and called on the international community to do more to ensure they can finally go home and rebuild their lives, UN Information Center said on Tuesday.

"In my work I'm used to visiting the worst places in the world, where
people are suffering and life is tough," Antonio Guterres said on
Friday, during a visit to Torbat-e-Jam, a camp located about 80
kilometres from the country's border with Afghanistan.

The settlement, built by the Iranian Government about 10 years ago,
houses some 5,000 Afghan refugees.

"It warms my heart to visit what is probably the best refugee
settlement in Iran, if not the world," he stated as he surveyed the
100-hectare refugee community of solid brick houses, well-equipped
schools and clinics and a mosque and community centre featuring a
refugee art exhibit.

At least 5 million Afghans have returned to their homeland since 2002
- more than 4 million of them with the help of UNHCR.

There are still almost 3 million Afghan refugees living in other
countries, including nearly 1 million in Iran.

Mr. Guterres praised the generosity and hospitality of the Iranian
people toward refugees from other countries and for receiving millions
of them in recent decades.

"And let's be frank. Iran has done this with little support from the
international community. I'm the first to recognize that the resources
my office brings are disproportionate to the generosity of the Iranian
Government and people," he stated.

He also said he hoped that the Afghan refugees would be able to return
home soon and begin rebuilding their lives.

"It is difficult to find a nation in the world which has suffered so
much in recent decades," he said.

"The best solution for refugees is to go back home in a voluntary,
safe and dignified way. But we all feel a certain frustration that
several years after the fall of the Taliban, there are still many
impediments to return," he noted.

Afghan refugees face a number of challenges upon their return to their
home country, including shelter, land allocation, health, education
and employment.

Mr. Guterres, who arrived in Iran on Friday after four days in
Afghanistan, said an international conference sponsored by the Afghan
Foreign Ministry and UNHCR in Kabul last week had unveiled a new
strategy aimed at overcoming many of those impediments.

There was a lot of support from both the Afghan Government and the
international community at the meeting for incorporating the needs of
returned refugees in the country's five-year blueprint for rebuilding,
known as the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS).