Introduction
Asylum is not only related to the current age or a particular nation or nationality. Throughout their life on the planet, humans are forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in the lands due to issues such as war, famine, climate change, fear of losing their lives, torture, harassment, and many other reasons (Bahramji, Teaching the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in Plain Language, 9). For example, this issue still plagues the citizens of Afghanistan, and every year, we observe thousands of Afghan citizens who even risk their lives by leaving their country (Azizi, Migration and Its Position in International Law Treaties, 7).
If we define the asylum seeker as a foreign citizen who applies for asylum from a country due to political, religious, or racial reasons or membership in certain social groups, fearing for his life and his family members who are dependent on him, and his request has not yet been processed; and define a refugee as an asylum seeker whose request is accepted by the target country; and then search about the achievements of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of legislation and implementation of laws; we will find out that one of the most brilliant performances in the field of refugee rights will be assigned to this country, especially noticing the fact that Iran is in the neighborhood of Afghanistan that is one of the most immigrant-sending countries in the world, and is practically inevitably struggling with the phenomenon of refugees.
The Islamic Republic of Iran believes in inviting and supporting asylum seekers into the country, according to Islam’s point of view about supporting someone whose life and safety are in danger (even if he is a disbeliever) (At-Tawbah, verse 5). Iran’s political leaders have repeatedly emphasized this warm welcome to the asylum seekers and can be seen in the actions of the authorities, some of whom are mentioned below.
This study about asylum seekers and refugees has separated three topics from each other and then analyzed them separately:
- What is the degree of ease in accepting refugees’ requests and recognizing foreign refugees (basically, what are the conditions for accepting asylum seekers’ requests in Iran)?
- The rights of asylum seekers and refugees (what rights do refugees and asylum seekers have, and what is their status compared to primary nationals?)
- Education of refugees (focusing on the education of refugees as one of their most significant rights to achieve growth and excellence and change their position in the social class pyramid).
Ease in accepting refugee requests.
The basis of the laws and regulations of Iran’s governing system in the field of refugees are related to two comprehensive laws: The Law of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and Its Protocol and the Law on the Entry and Exit of Foreigners.
All the following are taken from the text of these two laws, which are mandatory in the Islamic Republic of Iran:
The Islamic Republic of Iran will not in any way deport a refugee to the lands where the refugee may face threats to his life or freedom due to reasons related to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or having political opinions (Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and Its Protocol, Article 1).
In addition, Iran has provided facilities as much as possible in accepting and granting citizenship to refugees to speed up the acquisition of citizenship and to reduce the costs and expenses of this as much as possible.
In addition to the above, the Islamic Republic of Iran will not punish refugees whose lives, comfort, and freedom are under threat and who have entered or are staying there because of their illegal entry and living, provided that they introduce themselves to the relevant authorities in real-time and provide convincing reasons for their illegal entry or presence.
In addition to these cases, the government of Iran has established more protections and guarantees for those who need to become refugees due to their jobs and benefit from the country’s services. For example, Iran will allow refugees who regularly serve as sailors on ships with the flag of one of the member states of the convention to settle in its country and will minimize the usual strictures in this matter.
The bright point of the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran is that this country will implement the acceptance of refugees without discrimination in terms of race or religion or the mainland. In this regard, it does not discriminate between refugees of different countries, religions, and races (Ibid., Article 3).
Finally, with all these facilities, if the residence permit is refused and the deportation decision is taken by the competent authorities designated by the government, the foreign party will have the right to appeal to the government and request a review of the said decision and file a lawsuit to claim his rights.
Some rights of asylum seekers in Iran
Iran considers the rights related to the employment of refugees, especially the refugees who have entered Iran due to programs related to the employment of workers or immigration programs, similar to the rights of its nationals in this regard. This means that all the laws governing labor rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran for refugees can also be cited in judicial courts (Ibid., Article 17).
Justice between refugees and native nationals is one of the bright spots of Iran’s laws, as far as Iran does not distinguish with primary education and especially about the right to work and study, determining the value of educational degrees, academic certificates issued from foreign countries, discounting fees charged in different governance systems and granting educational grants and scholarships between refugees and its nationals, and has the same predictions in these cases for both groups.
The Islamic Republic of Iran will treat the refugees who live in its country by the law in the same way as its nationals regarding cooperation and public assistance. This nondiscrimination and justice between Iranian nationals and refugees, even during severe crises, is foreseen in the law to the extent that if the country decides to face a critical situation, put the food and water rationing system in its policies and distribute scarce products among the general public according to the quota. This quota will be applied to refugees like nationals of the country, and for this reason, there will be no difference between ordinary people and refugees(Ibid., Article 20).
Judicial justice is another emphasis of Iran’s legislative system regarding refugees. In this case, the law has provided that there are judicial facilities for every refugee in Iran, including the possibility of going to the courts, the use of judicial assistance, and exemptions for depositing the guarantee of legal costs, like all their nationals, and every refugee can refer to the judicial courts at any time and benefit from its services (Ibid., Article 16).
In the field of intellectual property, this justice has also been observed, and Iran acts like the citizens of this country in protecting industrial property, especially the protection of inventions, projects, models, marks, and trade names, as well as the protection of literary, artistic and scientific property of refugees in Iran.
In the religious field, refugees in Iran are free; whatever religion or ritual they want to have for themselves, there are no restrictions on religious education for their children (Ibid., Article 4).
Education of refugees
Considering the division of education between school students and university students, we will also divide the study of refugees’ rights in this area into two parts. For this purpose, we will first examine the rights of refugee school students and then we will go to the facilities of refugee university students.
Despite everything, the government of Iran considers the learning of science and literacy as an issue beyond nationality and ethnicity and believes that the dignity of human beings is more valuable than the absence of necessary documents to prove their refugees, and for this reason, not only refugees but also illegal asylum seekers should not be deprived of the right to education, which is one of the most important rights of every human being. Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, has made a clear statement about the right of asylum seeker children, especially Afghan nationals, to education, which has been the goal of various governments of the Islamic Republic, especially the Ministry of Education. No Afghan children, even immigrants who are in Iran illegally and without documents, should be deprived of education, and all of them should be enrolled in Iranian schools (an order from the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution: no Afghan student should be deprived of education, even illegal, Tasnim News Agency).
This firm belief has led to brilliant results in the executive field. According to statistics, the number of foreign students, including refugees and immigrants, is 500000 (half a million children), of which 95% are Afghan-friendly and neighboring nationals, and a number are from Iraq and other countries. It should be mentioned that in 2021, around 180000 Afghan refugees, while in Iran, did not have any identity documents; they were enrolled in schools completely free of charge under the same conditions as Iranian students and were educated and studied; an event similar to it has not been seen anywhere in the world. The per capita consumption of each foreign student was 50 million Rials in 2021. This is even though international organizations compensate only about 1% of these costs, which is very insignificant compared to Iran’s comprehensive services (education of half a million refugee students in Iranian schools, ISNA News Agency). According to the statements of the Deputy Director General of Foreign Nationals and Immigrant Affairs of the Ministry of Interior, in 2018, the Islamic Republic of Iran spends 150 million dollars annually for the education of 480,000 Afghan students (Iran spends 150 million dollars annually on the education of Afghan immigrants, IRNA News Agency).
All these events are happening when the country of Iran, despite bearing the cruel sanctions of the United States, which unfortunately includes the field of education, has accepted this huge population of refugees and their children with full generosity and according to its ethical and Islamic duty, and it is expected that countries of the world, especially European countries, as well as international organizations, will join the global consensus of violating sanctions, especially sanctions that directly affect the physical and mental health and education of children and teenagers.
In addition to the field of children and primary education, this brilliant record can also be observed and evaluated in the field of postgraduate education of young people. In 2018, Iran provided scholarships to 406 refugee students and exempted them from paying education fees. Among them, 96 students with this scholarship were Afghan refugee students in the Asia and Pacific region. Among these people, 141 people have studied in engineering fields, 74 people in medical and health sciences fields, 36 people in social and behavioral sciences, 34 people in business administration fields, and 29 people in mathematics and computer sciences, of which (406 people), 403 people related to Afghan refugees and three people related to Iraqi refugees (DAFI scholarship was awarded to 406 refugee students in Iran, Iran Migration Observatory).
Conclusion
The Islamic Republic of Iran has provided facilities for refugees from different countries due to the beliefs and ideals derived from Islam. Any asylum seeker who wants to seek refuge in Iran due to various dangers from his country can consider minimum cultural and economic security guarantees for himself.
The Islamic Republic respects the refugees in its country like all its citizens, provides them with minimum facilities, and makes the conditions for their lives easier. Examples of this phenomenon can be seen in scholarships in Iranian universities and schools for free. All these facilities, from the acceptance of the asylum seeker to the possibility of different legal conditions for ease of life, show that the Islamic Republic of Iran respects the dignity of human beings of any race, belief, and religion and seeks to improve the well-being and intellectual and social development of asylum seekers.
References
- The Holy Quran
- Bahramji, A., (2015). Teaching the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in Plain Language, Tehran, first edition, Mah Baran Publishing (In Persian)
- Azizi, A., (2019). Migration and Its Position in International Law Treaties, Tehran, first edition, Farzangan Daneshgah Publishing (In Persian)
- Law of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and Its Protocol Approved on 1976-6-15 (In Persian)
- IRNA News Agency (In Persian)
- ISNA News Agency (In Persian)
- Tasnim News Agency (In Persian)