The Federal Foreign Office is making one million euro available to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the programme to support Afghan refugees in Iran.

Over a million refugees from Afghanistan are currently registered in Iran. Many of them have been living there for over 30 years. According to UNHCR, the refugee population in Iran is one of the largest in the world, and also one of the longest-standing. It is assumed that there are also a large number of unregistered refugees.

The money made available by the Federal Foreign Office is to be used not only to supply relief items such as blankets and hygiene articles, but above all to improve healthcare for the refugees. Special attention is to be paid in this context to the needs of people with disabilities. A further focus will be on the refugees’ welfare, a key task of UNHCR. To this end, there is a need first and foremost for comprehensive refugee registration as well as for measures to identify individuals’ actual support requirements.