Only Afghans Who Made It Out of Afghanistan Now Eligible for Humanitarian Program
When the Taliban seized Kabul and took control of Afghanistan in August, the Canadian government announced the Special Humanitarian Program to resettle thousands of vulnerable Afghans in Canada. To qualify Afghans had to be members of a vulnerable group such as female leaders, religious or ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people, or journalists. This program originally applied to both the Afghans who managed to get out of Afghanistan but also to those who were still stuck inside the war-torn country. However, the government recently changed this criteria on its website, saying that only those who have already left the country can apply under the vulnerable Afghan grounds. The government stated that the change was more of a communications change than a policy one, however this will affect many Afghans still stuck or hiding in their home country.
Canada remains committed to taking in 40,000 Afghan refugees both the Special Humanitarian Program, which now only applies to those outside of Afghanistan, and the Special Immigration Program, which covers Afghans who assisted Canada, regardless of where they are now located.
This news may cause some confusion and groups working with Afghans trying to flee their country are warning the government that people who were previously allowed to apply for the Special Humanitarian Program might now resort to using traffickers and other dangerous means to leave the country.
Stephen Watt of Northern Lights Canada, a refugee organization, said the government’s plan to bring 40,000 Afghans to Canada has been wrapped in secrecy ever since it was announced. He says there is still no clear way to apply to the program or to discover who it is accepting or how it is operating. “This is a life and death question for many of the people we are talking to within Afghanistan,” he said.
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Arghavan Gerami
Arghavan Gerami is the Founder and Senior Counsel at Gerami Law Professional Corporation ('PC'), a full-service immigration law firm in Ottawa, Ontario. Since 2011, Ms. Gerami has focused her practice on immigration and refugee litigation. Prior to that, Ms. Gerami worked at the Ministry of Attorney General and the Department of Justice and had the privilege of serving the Honourable Mr. Justice M. Evans at the Federal Court of Appeal on immigration and administrative law appeals. Ms. Gerami contributes to the Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Ms. Gerami has also published numerous journal articles and presented at various immigration and refugee law conferences and events across Canada.