Main Activities
UNHCR Iran delivers protection through an integrated approach that combines legal assistance, communication with communities, enrolment and verification, and protection case management. These interventions, combined with assistance and solutions interventions, aim to ensure access to rights, provide reliable information and services, identify and respond to protection risks, and support pathways to durable solutions for the populations UNHCR serves in Iran.
Legal Assistance
Legal Assistance
UNHCR Iran runs a Legal Services Project with the objective of providing legal assistance to refugees in Iran and resolving legal cases through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. UNHCR-hired lawyers (UHLs) provide free legal advice and assistance to refugees, while the Dispute Settlement Committees (DSCs) assist refugees in finding solutions and settling their legal disputes through a mediation and advice mechanism. Family law (divorce/custody), employment (employee/employer), and property (landlord/tenant) disputes are among the top three issues that are resolved through the DSCs. UNHCR currently works with 12 UNHCR-hired lawyers (UHLs) and supports 16 Dispute Settlement Committees (DSC), covering 19 provinces.
Communication with Communities (CWC)
Communication with Communities (CWC)
CWC tools are critical given the limited outreach activities, and therefore, these mechanisms enable UNHCR to maintain continuous engagement with affected populations and facilitate access to accurate information and available services. Through the help page, helplines, online contact forms, mailboxes, and counselling desks, UNHCR systematically receives, records, and responds to protection-related queries and feedback. These channels are essential for the identification of protection risks, vulnerability profiling, and the timely referral of cases for assistance and appropriate interventions. Since January to the end of April 2026, UNHCR has engaged with over 302,000 visitors through its Help Page, helplines, in-person reception, online forms, and email channels, responding to tens of thousands of queries and requests for information, counselling, and support. While communities raise multiple, interlinked concerns across locations, three overarching priorities consistently emerge based on frequency, urgency and recurrence across three main areas: 1) Financial assistance, livelihoods and basic needs, 2) Access to essential services and reliable information, particularly on documentation extension, 3) Safety, security and mental health. These priorities reflect the most urgent and recurrent needs identified by Afghan refugees across provinces and are intended to complement ongoing efforts by UNHCR, partners, and authorities.
Enrolment for Solutions
Enrolment for Solutions
UNHCR Iran continues registration and verification activities to support protection delivery and durable solutions in the UNHCR internal registration system. These activities help ensure that population data remains accurate and up to date, while supporting the identification of additional cases for case management and solutions pathways, enabling timely assistance, improved protection follow-up and more effective planning of intervention.
Protection Case Management
Protection Case Management
UNHCR continues to ensure a systematic, consistent, and effective approach to managing cases of persons falling under the UNHCR mandate with specific needs, ensuring their protection and access to rights and available services. Between January and April 2026, UNHCR assessed a significant number of cases to identify international protection needs and specific vulnerabilities. The majority of these cases were proposed for protection responses and referred to specialized services, including psychosocial and mental health counselling, medical referrals, child protection and GBV services, legal counselling, referrals for third-country solutions, and cash-based intervention considerations.
Cash-based Interventions
Cash-based Interventions
UNHCR provides cash assistance to refugees and refugee-like populations who are highly vulnerable, helping them address their immediate protection and basic needs. Multipurpose cash assistance allows displaced individuals to make their own decisions about what they need most, restoring a sense of dignity. Cash can be used to meet a variety of needs, from food and shelter to healthcare and education, adapting to the unique circumstances of each recipient.
In 2026, UNHCR aims to assist 30,000 individuals (6,000 households) with multipurpose cash support. Additionally, through a Partnership Agreement with the Iraqi Refugee Aid Council (IRAC) and International Farda Development Activist Association (IFDA), 100 Iraqi refugee families living in Ilam, Khuzestan, Qom, and Kermanshah have received cash for livelihood support.
Health
UNHCR complements the inclusive health policies in Iran through working with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) to ensure that all refugees have access to vital and lifesaving medical services. These services include primary care, secondary, and tertiary healthcare and harm reduction services, including medical referrals, prevention, and harm reduction services through individual and group counselling.
Primary healthcare (PHC)
It includes vaccinations, antenatal care, maternal and child health, essential medicines, and family planning, and it is available free of charge for refugees and other Afghans in Need of International Protection (OIP)in health posts located in settlements and refugee-populated urban areas, at a similar level to that of nationals. UNHCR supports the rehabilitation of health posts, the costs of health personnel, procurement of essential medicines and medical and non-medical items, immunization campaigns, and emergency response to communicable disease outbreaks.
Universal Public Health Insurance (UPHI)
Since 2015, all registered refugees have access to the national health insurance scheme, similar to Iranians, as part of the agreement between UNHCR, the Center for Aliens and Immigrants' Affairs (CAFIA) and the Iranian Health Insurance Organisation (IHIO), with the cooperation of MoHME. The health insurance covers both hospitalization and para-clinical services at a subsidized rate. For the current 12th cycle (25 February 2026 to 24 February 2027), UNHCR is covering 100 per cent of the insurance premium for 75,000 of the most vulnerable refugees, including refugees who suffer from special diseases1 and their family members. The remaining refugee population can enrol in the health insurance scheme by paying the premium fee themselves. UPHI is a family-based scheme for foreign nationals, and individual enrolment is not an option. Therefore, refugees need to register all members of their family and pay the fee for each member.
Mental Health
To address the mental health needs of refugees, UNHCR has contracted five psycho-social counsellors in its offices in the field, to provide individual counselling services to refugees. This year, 325 individuals have participated in 524 sessions, while priority is given to survivors of gender-based violence and trauma. Among the top reasons for psycho-social counselling referral are anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. Additionally, 7 mental health experts provide free of charge psycho-social counselling services at health posts in 7 refugee settlements.
Education
The Government of Iran has traditionally shown an exemplary approach towards the right to education, with foreign children learning side by side with Iranian children in public schools. While the Government of Iran keeps enrolling the forcibly displaced children in schools aligned with its inclusive policies, the lack of school capacity and the costs imposed on the Government have resulted in limitations on the access of the forcibly displaced children to education. Around 400,000 Afghan and Iraqi children are enrolled in primary and secondary schools for the 2025-2026 scholastic year, according to the Ministry of Education (MoE). Worsening economic conditions of refugees and other Afghans in Need of International Protection (OIP), combined with a lack of enrolment capacity in schools, and new documentation requirements, have hampered many Afghan children’s access to education, resulting in a considerable number of them dropping out of school.
In 2026, UNHCR is supporting the government by co-funding the construction of 7 schools for refugee and host community children in refugee-hosting provinces. UNHCR also supports tertiary education for refugees through the DAFI (Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) scholarship programme. In 2026, 103 refugee students benefit from support with DAFI tuition fees and living allowances.
Livelihoods
Enhancing refugees’ livelihoods remains a priority for UNHCR, as it can help them become self-reliant. In 2026, UNHCR is implementing livelihood interventions to enhance income and employment opportunities for refugees, in collaboration with the Government and non-governmental partners. These interventions include certified technical and vocational training in welding, gas piping, repair of appliances, electrical works, tailoring, leather crafts, and baking, benefitting around 800 refugees and vulnerable host community members across 10 provinces under the partnership agreement with the Technical and Vocational Training Organization (TVTO).
Durable Solutions
Durable Solutions
UNHCR continues to offer enhanced counselling under its voluntary repatriation programme, focusing on prospective returnees, particularly those with vulnerable profiles, regarding the situation at their final destinations. Refugees cited various reasons for returning, including financial challenges in Iran, family reunification, or the need to obtain documentation in Afghanistan.
Since 2022 to date, in collaboration with resettlement partners and the Government of Iran, UNHCR has submitted over 12,798 refugees for resettlement to Australia, Finland, the UK, New Zealand, Italy, Brazil among others. During the same period, over 4,450 departures took place. Given the increasing protection needs of refugees in Iran and the ongoing volatile security situation in Afghanistan, UNHCR is advocating for more resettlement quotas. The 2026 quota for UNHCR Iran is 500 places offered by Australia.
UNHCR Iran continues to expand access to complementary pathways as part of its broader protection and solutions work, supporting refugees to pursue safe and regular admission to third countries through family reunification, education, employment and labour mobility, humanitarian visas, and private sponsorship opportunities. In 2025, UNHCR Iran supported over 1,000 individuals to access complementary pathways. UNHCR Iran will continue to advance education mobility through initiatives such as the Digital Bridges for Afghan Scholars, offering Afghan refugee students mentoring opportunities to pursue academic opportunities abroad. In 2026, UNHCR Iran has so far counselled 100 individuals on complementary pathways.