Current_Trends_and_Related_Challenges_web

Current Trends and Challenges
little difficulty. 76 Afghan migrants enter Pakistan
on two main routes: The first involves travel from
Kabul across the border to Peshawar in northern
Pakistan. The second route leads from Kandahar
across the border at Chaman and through
Balochistan Province. 77 Once in Pakistan, Afghan
migrants generally follow the same smuggling
routes and methods as Pakistani nationals. 78
Quetta, the capital of Balochistan Province, is
the main smuggling hub for Afghan and Pakistani
nationals continuing on to the Islamic Republic
of Iran by land. 79 Afghan and Pakistani nationals
sometimes travel to the cities of Karachi, Lahore
or Islamabad to board international flights to the
Gulf region, Europe or South-East Asia. 80 Some
Iranian nationals also travel from the Islamic
Republic of Iran into Pakistan, sometimes via
Afghanistan, to board flights bound for South-East
Asia. 81
The Islamic Republic of Iran is the second-most
important transit and destination country for
irregular migrants from Afghanistan and the
most popular transit point for irregular migrants
from Pakistan. 82 The Islamic Republic of Iran is
also a main transit country for migrants from
Iraq 83 and a transit country for migrants from
Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and some Central
Asian countries. 84 Some irregular Afghan migrants
enter the Islamic Republic of Iran directly from
Afghanistan, but most reportedly travel first to
Pakistan before entering the Islamic Republic of
Iran with the use of smugglers. 85 Irregular migrants
from Pakistan also enter the Islamic Republic of
Iran almost exclusively overland. 86 One of the
main routes leads from Quetta in Pakistan across
87
From there, smuggled migrants travel northward
to the region near Mashhad and then on to
Tehran. 88 A second route into the Islamic Republic
of Iran taken by smuggled Pakistani migrants leads
through southern Balochistan Province and across
Oman. From there, migrants continue along the
Tehran. 89 Irregular migrants from Bangladesh and
India also enter the Islamic Republic of Iran along
these routes. Some Bangladeshi migrants enter the
Islamic Republic of Iran irregularly by air. 90 Tehran
is the major hub for the smuggling of Afghan and
Pakistani nationals in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
There, smuggled migrants organize the next leg
of their journey to Europe; 91 some may remain in
the Islamic Republic of Iran for a long while before
their smuggling journey continues. 92
From Tehran, smuggled Afghan and Pakistan
migrants travel to the cities of Urmia and Salmas,
near the Turkish border. This is often done by
taxi, with smuggled migrants travelling in groups
of two to five and then regrouping with others
near the border. 93 Migrants from the cities of
Sulaymaniyah, Ranya and Erbil in north-eastern
Iraq usually cross into the Islamic Republic of
Iran before heading to Turkey, whereas those
from north-western Iraq travel directly to Turkey,
usually facilitated by smugglers. 94
Some Iraqi Kurds are smuggled through Jordan
and/or Syria instead of travelling via the Islamic
Republic of Iran. From there they continue their
smuggling journey to South-East Asia and Australia
or they go northward and westward to Turkey
and Europe. 95 The border between Iraq and Syria
runs through open and flat terrain, which means
that Iraqi migrants smuggled across this border
have greater risk of being intercepted than those
smuggled across the border into Jordan. 96
2.4.4 Smuggling to and through the Gulf region
Afghan and Pakistani nationals are smuggled by
boat from Pakistan or the Islamic Republic of Iran
to Oman, with some continuing by land to the
United Arab Emirates. Others fly from Pakistan
to Abu Dhabi or Dubai and then continue by air
to destinations in Europe or South-East Asia. 97
Pakistani migrants are also smuggled into and
through Saudi Arabia. In general, migrants who
intend to remain in Saudi Arabia are smuggled
from Pakistan to the Islamic Republic of Iran and
then by boat across to Saudi Arabia. 98 Pakistani
migrants who fly from Pakistan to Riyadh or
Jeddah on fraudulent travel or identity documents
typically use Saudi Arabia as a transit point en
route to Western Europe. 99 As described further in
this section (see Smuggling to and through South-
East Asia and Oceania), the Gulf region has been
a popular transit region for migrants who have
been, until recently, smuggled by air from South-
West Asia via the Gulf region to South-East Asia
and from there by sea to Australia.
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