In the wake of the recent military confrontation between Iran and Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran has intensified its campaign of forced deportations targeting Afghan refugees and migrants. In the past month alone, over 100000 Afghans have reportedly been expelled from Iranian territory—many of them women, children, and vulnerable individuals who had sought refuge from conflict and persecution in Afghanistan.
This mass expulsion has occurred in an atmosphere of heightened state suspicion. Iranian officials and state-affiliated media have issued unsubstantiated allegations that Afghan nationals were involved in espionage activities for Israel. These claims have served as a political pretext for collective punishment, carried out without any form of due process or access to legal recourse.
Numerous testimonies from deported individuals and human rights monitors reveal a disturbing pattern of abuse. Afghan refugees were arrested arbitrarily in urban areas and border provinces, detained in overcrowded and unsanitary facilities, and subjected to verbal threats, physical abuse, and degrading treatment during transport. Many were forcibly separated from their families and expelled without warning, often at night, into insecure border regions controlled by Taliban forces. In numerous cases, deportees were left without documentation, shelter, or access to humanitarian aid.
Such actions are in direct violation of Iran’s international legal obligations. Iran is a state party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, although it has not acceded to the 1967 Protocol. It remains fully bound by the core principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning individuals to a country where they face serious threats to life, freedom, or physical integrity. Iran is also a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Convention against Torture (CAT)—all of which prohibit arbitrary detention, torture, and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
The Iranian government’s actions not only violate these commitments but also raise urgent concerns under humanitarian and refugee protection frameworks. Collective expulsions, particularly of women and children, without individual risk assessments or procedural safeguards, constitute grave breaches of international law and moral responsibility.
HANA Human Rights Organization strongly condemns this ongoing campaign of forced deportations and the weaponization of refugee status for political ends. We call on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and relevant UN Special Rapporteurs to immediately investigate these expulsions and ensure protection for the affected populations. We urge the international human rights and refugee protection community to treat this as a pressing humanitarian crisis and to recognize the severe danger facing deported individuals—particularly women and children—under Taliban rule.
This is not merely a question of legal compliance; it is a test of our collective humanity. The international community must act with urgency and resolve to defend the rights and dignity of Afghan refugees and to hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable for these serious violations.
HANA Human Rights Organization
30 June 2025, Geneva