Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report on Wednesday with harsh criticisms of Iran's policy toward Afghan refugees, indicating Tehran was responsible for a number of human rights violations.
The report, entitled "Unwelcome Guests," details a rise in unprovoked arrests, detentions, beatings and harassment of more than a million Afghans asylum-seekers in Iran as the country faces its own economic problems worsened by international sanctions.
HRW said Iran was deporting "thousands of Afghans to a country where the danger is both real and serious."
Iran, along with Pakistan, has been a major destination for Afghans fleeing violence and persecution in their home country over the past few decades.
The HRW report said Iranian officials "have in recent year's limited legal avenues for Afghans to claim refugee or other immigration status in Iran, even as conditions in Afghanistan have deteriorated."
Most poignantly, though, the human rights advocacy group highlighted the adversity faced by Afghan refugees in Iran.
HRW said the Iranian government's policies meant many undocumented Afghan children could not go to school, and migrants recognized as refugees were limited to "dangerous and poorly paid" manual labor jobs.
"The violations of rights of the Afghans in Iran, this is an extremely important topic because it affects the lives, safety and security of the almost three million afghans who live in Iran," Deputy Asia Director at HRW Phelim Kine.
HRW officials said they were particularly concerned about the Iranian security forces' abuses against unaccompanied Afghan migrant children, who are traveling without parents or other guardians.
Iran recently announced that it would extend the welcome to Afghan refugees another year following negotiations between Kabul and Tehran. But based on the HRW report, it would seem officials in Iran do not plan to make it easy for Afghans to arrive or stay in their country.
"We also sent the whole published report, which is 124 pages, to the government of Iran," HRW researcher Faraz Sanei said. "We hope that the government of Iran engages not only with the Human Rights Watch, but also with the government of Afghanistan, to try to address some of these issues that we have talked about today."
Thousands of Afghans enter Iran illegally every year and about 2.4 million Afghans are said reside in the country at the moment.