Afghan immigrants and its social and economic consequences for Iranian society
1. Introduction
In the era of global economy, monetary flows are one of the main reasons for the economic growth of countries. In this regard, immigrants are one of the main factors in the economic growth of countries that can benefit their mother country by returning remittances or remittances. Remittances are transfers of money, goods and various features by immigrants to their countries of origin or motherland. Although the concept of remittance includes only the monetary aspect, remittances also include monetary and non-monetary flows such as social remittances.
In any case, this flow has economic and social effects and consequences in the destination society of Afghan immigrants, such as Iran. For this purpose, the current research, by analyzing the genealogy of the remittance concept of Afghan immigrants, in addition to clarifying the concept of remittance, tries to answer the question that what are the social and economic consequences of the flow of economic and social remittances of the Afghan diaspora for Iranian society in the social and economic field? In response to the research question and as a research hypothesis, it should be said that the remittance flow of the Afghan diaspora in Iran has social and economic consequences; which will be examined further.
2. Research background
An article titled "Afghan Remittances: Review of Transfer Cost, Identification of Amount and Transfer Channels" by Mohibullah Faqir Zahi, which was conducted by the National Bank of Afghanistan in 2018, examines the official channels of remittance transfer to Afghanistan. In this report, the official channels of remittance transfer to Afghanistan and its entry points are considered. This report has focused its attention on the main financial and official legal institutions of remittances to Afghanistan. A report titled Financial Leverages of Immigrants to Mobilize Private Sector Capital in December 2023 has been published by the World Bank Group in the Development and Migration Department. In this report, the main trends in remittance flows, the outlook of remittances until 2025 and the consequences of remittances for countries of origin and destination are considered. Considering the phenomenon of Afghan migration from 2021 onwards, this report considers the flow of incoming remittances to Afghanistan to be more than ever and one of the influencing factors on Afghanistan's gross national product.
Daniel Garrot Sanchez (2017) in an article titled "International Movement of Migrants, Experience and Evidence for Afghanistan at the Macro Level", examined the quality of economic migration of Afghan refugees and found a significant relationship between migration and the remittance flow of Afghan refugees. In this research, the historical patterns of migration in Afghanistan, the analysis and the latest trend of Afghan migration, due to economic and financial reasons, defines economic migration; Migration that is tied to the flow of remittances and the return of money from the destination country to Afghanistan and the families of the migrants.
John Ocho (2008) in an article entitled "Remittance Flows and African Diaspora" has acknowledged that remittances are the transfer of money, goods and various characteristics by immigrants to their countries of origin or motherland. According to the author, the flows of money transfers from immigrants to their countries of origin include economic and social flows and have effects beyond the financial flow.
The general opinion of the published works in this field shows that no scientific and research work has been compiled on the process and flow of remittances of Afghans and its social and economic effects on Iranian society. This can guarantee the originality and innovation of the present article and provide a basis for the expansion of this literature as well as conducting more research in this field of economic and social studies.
3. Research methodology:
The research method in this research is analytical-descriptive and its data is collected based on library and documentary methods.
4. Conclusion:
The present article tried to answer the question regarding one of the important dimensions of Afghan immigration in Iran: what are the social and economic consequences of the flow of economic and social remittances of the Afghan diaspora for the Iranian society in the social and economic field? As discussed, remittances constitute an important part of Afghanistan's financial ecosystem (4% of the GDP). Considering the number of Afghan immigrants in Iran, a major volume of this remittance flow is sent from the Iranian community to Afghanistan. Although the amount of remittances sent from Iran to Afghanistan cannot be a significant amount due to the economic crisis and the fall in the value of the Rial, but the monitoring of the transfer of these funds and the monitoring of the people with accounts can create a database regarding the nobles of Afghan refugees. provided for regular information monitoring. In this regard, a mechanism such as FATF (Financial Action Task Force) and CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism) to monitor financial information, i.e. remittances of Afghan immigrants, international payments of immigrants, and denying the financing of regional terrorism in the country. it is needed. At the same time, we should not forget that remittances play a very important role in building peace and the peace-making process between the countries of origin and destination; It should be mentioned that remittances are transferred and monitored in countries with formal financial and banking structures, while the lack of banking infrastructure for any reason causes the transfer of the official money transfer network from unofficial and personal sources. which is a pest on the monetary structure of the country of origin. As mentioned, although the concept of remittance may at first glance only include economic and monetary aspects, the analysis of the data of this economic flow has shown that it also includes non-monetary flows such as social remittances. and from this point of view, the flow of remittances can create an opportunity-threatening face for national interests.
As a conclusion and answer to the question of the article, it should be said that the Afghan diaspora in Iran has both negative (threat) and positive (opportunity) effects, which can appear according to the behavior of the Iranian policy maker. For the social and cultural purpose, the Afghan diaspora can change the demographic and cultural context and impose an ethnic and religious divide (Shia and Sunni divide/Iranian and Afghan divide) on the deeply divided Iranian society; Also, in this context, the Afghan diaspora is able to do anything due to the stability of its economic remittances and the increase of its financial income, and accept jobs that are not related to the demands of job seekers, and in addition to the expansion of fake jobs and the informal economy in The outskirts of the metropolises. On the other hand, the same immigrant force, with its presence in the construction industry and mining industries, can cause the prosperity of these economically productive sectors. In this way, the Afghan diaspora can be both an opportunity and a threat. However, considering the current situation and the context of the unstable Iranian economy during the last decade, the possibility of negative variables of the presence of Afghan immigrants in the Iranian society is more. Therefore, monitoring and tracking the flow of remittances of the Afghan diaspora in the Islamic Republic should be pursued as an economic-security agenda by the custodian institutions.