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Travel documents

Resolution number
14
Whereas
  1. Article 28 of the 1951 Geneva Convention requires contracting states including Canada to issue travel documents to Convention Refugees;
  2. The present Canadian practice is normally not to issue travel documents to Convention Refugees until they have been granted permanent resident status;
  3. There are long periods between the recognition of refugee status and the issuance of landing status especially for those without identity documents;
  4. Even Convention Refugees who are landed are routinely denied travel documents and told instead to obtain passports from the very governments they have fled;
  5. Even after landing, there are prolonged periods of 3 months or more to finally obtain travel documents;
  6. Inability to travel outside of Canada to visit family relatives and/or facilitate family reunification causes tremendous difficulties for refugees;
Therefore be it resolved

That the CCR:

  1. Write to the Ministers of Justice, Foreign Affairs and Immigration requesting that they comply with Article 28 of the Refugee Convention by issuing travel documents, unconditionally and in an expedited manner, to Convention Refugees once they have been granted refugee status and not wait until they are landed.
  2. Call on the UNHCR to make a similar intervention with the Canadian government.
  3. Call on the Canadian government to stop asking Convention Refugees, be they landed or not, to obtain passports from their country of origin.
Working Group
Inland Protection