Hon. Minister Fraser: Save Afghan Families by Extending the Afghan Special Program

Afghan refugees immigrating to Canada require private sponsorship from within Canada before they can come. In order to be privately sponsored, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada requires that most Afghans who’ve fled to 3rd countries like Pakistan and Iran, have official refugee recognition from that foreign state or from the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Receiving this refugee status is challenging and can take 3 years or more. Though they meet the definition of a refugee, official status is something very few Afghans are able to obtain, in part because that status involves protections from states that are often unwilling to provide them. If an applicant is unable to obtain refugee status, they will be deported back to Afghanistan where they face prosecution by the Taliban.

Under Taliban control, the situation remains dire for ethnic minorities, women and girls, with frequent attacks targeting these vulnerable groups. On September 30, 2022, a suicide attack inside the Kaaj Educational Center in West Kabul, Afghanistan, claimed the lives of over 35 girls and young women belonging to the Hazara community. Over 82 others were injured in the attack. When the Taliban assumed control over the nation in 2021, they prohibited all education for Afghan women. Under their regime, it is also illegal for women to leave their home without a male guardian or without a head-to-toe hijab. According to a report by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, 87% of Afghan women have experienced physical, sexual, and psychological violence in their lifetime.

Many Afghan women awaiting sponsorship are in serious danger from the Taliban they are unable to obtain refugee status, and will face dire conditions including torture and death when they are deported back to Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban reclaimed control of Afghanistan in 2021, Canada has welcomed more than 25,000 Afghans, and in a positive step forward, launched a new, but temporary program called the Afghan Special Program to help those without official refugee status documents. That program however, ended almost immediately, due to a 3000-person cap that is reported to have filled within minutes of the program opening. Similar programs exempting the need for refugee status offered to Syrians and Iraqis fleeing their countries in 2015 and 2016 were not capped in the same way this program has been for Afghans.

Hon. Minister Fraser, please reconsider the design of the Special program to sponsor Afghan refugees without refugee status from the UNHCR or a foreign state. By raising the applicant quota, you will allow a more fair and equitable opportunity for Afghans in Canada to sponsor their families to join them here, saving them from prosecution by the Taliban. 

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/9339393/canada-afghan-refugee-sponsorship-program-cap/amp/