New York, Nov 9, IRNA – Deputy Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Gholam-Hossein Dehqani said Friday that the health and educational conditions of refugees in Iran have been improved despite unjust international sanctions imposed on the country.
Addressing a meeting of the UN Social, Humanitarian Cultural Affairs Commitee (Third Committee) on refugees, Dehqani hoped that international community would carry out its duties regarding refugees residing in Iran.
Noting that Iran has been hosting over three million refugees mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq during the past three decades, Dehqani said most of the refugees live in Iran?s urban areas enjoying various civil services.
He expressed hope that the heavy burden of taking care of foreign refugees would be reduced soon with the international community fulfilling its obligations based on an agreement made in 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland, on Afghan refugees.
An international conference in Geneva has agreed on a plan for the voluntary repatriation and reintegration of millions of Afghan refugees, of whom many have been living in exile for more than three decades. The multi-billion-dollar strategy lays out measures for creating favorable conditions for their return.
Participants at the UN-sponsored conference recognized the enormous economic and social costs shouldered by the host countries and, in the adoption of a strategic plan, they reaffirmed the importance of the international community to share the burden and to assist the host communities.
Dehqani said the process of refugees repatriation would be facilitated with the help of the international community.
By IRNA
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