GD Item 9
Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance obtain a different interpretation when it comes to asylum seekers. In this volatile period things have changed regarding asylum, asylum seekers and immigration. Tens of thousands of Afghan immigrants in Iran moved along with immigrant streams towards Europe because of their poor condition in the host country. Asylum seekers from Afghanistan and also the second and third generation of Asylums in Iran are daily confronted with xenophobia and anti-Afghan sentiment. Passing through Iran borders is one of the most dangerous parts of the way to Europe, as Iranian border guards are allowed to shoot. Human rights education is not obligatory for the border guards in Iran. Just last week the 23 year old Alireza Rezai who was born in Tehran in an Afghan asylum family was beaten to death after he was arrested at the Iran-Turkey border in Azarbaijan. The Afghan asylum seekers who are arrested on the boarders of Iran, regardless of their asylum status in Iran are sent back to the Askarabad Camp near Varamin, Tehran. From there there are being send back to Afghanistan. The living conditions in the overcrowded Askarabad Camp are inhuman. The asylum seekers in Askarabad Camp are even deprived of medical care. The guards threaten some of the Afghan youth with being sent to fight in the war in Syria. Two days ago the bill to grant citizenship to the children of Iranian mothers and non-Iranian fathers as well as children of foreign national parents whose fathers were martyred fighting for Iran was not ratified in the Parliament. This leaves over a million of children born in Iran to Iranian mothers and Afghan fathers without Iranian citizenship until they are at least eighteen years old. Subsequently, these children often cannot access basic social services available to citizens. Just yesterday the Islamic Republic of Iran’s statement on GD item 9 reminded all states of their responsibility to counter the dissemination of the ideas based on superiority or hatred and the good recommendations regarding formal and informal education in deconstruction of prejudice, countering the attitudes of threat concerning the minorities to the standards of living and fostering a culture of tolerance and respect towards everyone. Sudwind urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to do the same inside their own boarders towards all including women and men, all ethnic groups living in Iran as well as the Afghans.
