Based on statistics from the Herat Directorate of Labor and Social Affairs, around 18,000 unsupervised children have been deported from Iran over the past two years.
According to officials from this department, these children, who hail from various provinces of the country, have been forcibly separated from their families and deported under duress.
Mirzad Mohammad Mansoor, the head of Herat’s Directorate of Labor and Social Affairs, stated: “Approximately 18,000 children have been deported. We transferred them to different provinces, and they were reunited with their families.”
Some of these children say their families remain in Iran, while they are living in difficult circumstances in Afghanistan.
Jalil Ahmad, a 13-year-old boy deported from Iran a month and a half ago, used to work as an apprentice tailor in Tehran. He was arrested by Iranian police and, after spending four days in detention, was deported via the Islam Qala border crossing to Herat.
His family remains in Iran, and he now lives with his grandfather in the city of Herat.
Jalil Ahmad, a deported child, said: “My two younger brothers, along with my father and mother, are still in Iran.”
Many deported children complain of mistreatment and beatings by Iranian police.
Some civil society activists warn that separating children from their families and mistreating them severely damages their mental and emotional well-being.
Sayed Ashraf Sadat, a civil society activist, said: “The vulnerability caused by this issue has destroyed the lives of countless children, separating thousands of them from their families. This is a significant problem that has persisted for many years, and unfortunately, no proper solution has been found to address it.”
According to statistics from local officials in Herat, two to three thousand people are deported from Iran daily and enter Afghanistan via the Islam Qala border crossing. Among these deportees, dozens of orphaned children are present every day.