Iran FM meets with intl. humanitarian officials in Geneva

In the meeting, the Iranian foreign minister referred to the political and social situation in Afghanistan, especially over the past 1.5 years.

He said the situation has sent an unprecedented influx of refugees into Iran from Afghanistan.

Amir-Abdollahian stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran has hosted millions of displaced Afghans, immigrants and refugees for more than four decades but, unfortunately, international support has not been proportionate to the surge in costs imposed on Iran due to the entry of Afghan migrants in recent years, and very little assistance has been provided for Iran for this purpose.

He stressed that the new humanitarian crises should not cause the previous ones like Afghanistan’s humanitarian issues and its consequences on neighboring countries to slip into oblivion.

The top Iranian diplomat underlined that unilateral sanctions have had a detrimental impact on the motivation of financial sponsors to undertake the burden of hosting Afghan nationals. Therefore international organizations must take necessary measures to protect global relief aid from the sanctions which act as a barrier.

Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Vitorino, Director General of the International Organization for Migration, Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of Coordination Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva, and Ms. Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who were present in the meeting, appreciated the Islamic Republic of Iran’s cooperation with international humanitarian organizations. They further underscored the need for continuing and bolstering this cooperation.

The international humanitarian officials also reaffirmed their commitment to step up efforts to fairly share the burden of hosting refugees and migrants. They also stressed the need to not let humanitarian relief operations be affected by sanctions.

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