Overseas Protection and Resettlement

Afghanistan

Resolution number
10
Whereas
  1. The situation in Afghanistan has continued to deteriorate such that from the capital city of Kabul alone over 1,000 refugees flee daily, and the country is left void of any supporting infrastructure;
  2. Afghanistan remains one of the largest refugee-producing countries as a result of the continuing war;
  3. The U.N. has started a process of discussion and negotiations through a U.N. delegation headed by Mahmood Mestiri with the various factions involved in the Afghan conflict;
  4. Canada is internationally respected for its commitment to peace, and is seen as an important player with a strong voice at the U.N.;
Therefore be it resolved

That the CCR urge the Canadian government to:

  1. Actively support U.N. efforts and initiatives towards a peaceful resolution of the Afghan conflict,
  2. Take a leading role in rallying international support for Afghanistan;
  3. Increase and strengthen their support of relief aid in Afghanistan through present aid missions such as the International Red Cross.

Lessons from Rwanda

Resolution number
9
Whereas
  1. The Secretary General of the United Nations, on November 18, 1994, called for a peacekeeping operation to establish security in the Rwandan refugee camps in the Kivu region of Zaire;
  2. The CCR held a day on the lessons from Rwanda on November 24, 1994 at which a number of conclusions were reached;
Therefore be it resolved

That the CCR call on the Government of Canada to endorse and promote these conclusions:

  1. The international community should endorse the recommendation of the Secretary General to deploy a U.N. peacekeeping force in the Kivu region of Zaire for the purpose of providing security to the relief effort for Rwandan refugees in Zaire.
  2. In the delivery of aid, local aid delivery agencies should be involved as much as possible, and local resources used as much as possible.
  3. The United Human Rights Commission must have the capacity to investigate on its own initiative the human rights situation in any country in the world and to report its findings to the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Security Council and the public.
  4. The UN Human Rights Centre should deploy human rights monitors throughout Rwanda to report on human rights violations if they occur, and as a means of establishing confidence for repatriation, where they do not occur.
  5. The international community should promote democracy and respect for human rights throughout the world, without distinctions based on culture or region.
  6. The United Nations needs a permanent deployment headquarters which can function immediately to bring together and service a peacekeeping force whenever the United Nations Security Council decides to create one.
  7. The United Nations should ask member states to allocate peacekeeping forces to the U.N. on a contingency basis. The contingently allocated forces should be in a state of readiness to be called on immediately whenever the Security Council decides to create a new peacekeeping force.
  8. United Nations peacekeeping forces on the ground should be mandated and instructed, as a humanitarian duty, to intervene and use force if necessary to protect innocent civilians under attack in the areas where the forces are operating.
  9. The international community should contribute to the establishment within Rwanda of a functioning social service system, civil administration, police network, and judiciary. It is urgent that a system of justice be established in Rwanda so that all perpetrators of past atrocities can be brought to justice.
  10. The international tribunal on crimes in Rwanda should be made functional on an urgent basis.
  11. Canada and other members of the international community must contribute to the bringing to justice of Rwandan criminals against humanity, wherever they may be found, by prosecuting them where they are found, extraditing them for trial in Rwanda or extraditing them for trial by the international tribunal on Rwanda.

Landmines

Resolution number
8
Whereas
  1. The CCR has passed Resolution # 11 (Nov. 92) and Resolution #18 (Nov. 93) condemning landmines;
  2. Anti-personnel landmines continue to kill or injure thousands of civilians, including refugees and returnees, especially from/in: Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iraq, Mozambique, Somalia and Sudan;
  3. Landmines impose a threat to humanity by causing indiscriminate harm and suffering, and render entire regions socially, economically and agriculturally depressed, without the possibility of reconstruction and rehabilitation long after the cessation of conflict;
  4. Minister Ouellet has suggested that a Canadian Task Force on Landmines be established; there is also opportunity for involvement in the examination of the Landmine Protocol (Protocol II) of the Convention on Inhumane Weapons (1980) at the Review Conference on the Convention in September 1995;
  5. There is an emerging Canadian Coalition on Landmines and an International Campaign to raise public awareness on the issue of landmines;
Therefore be it resolved

that the CCR:

  1. Investigate becoming an active member of the Canadian Coalition on Landmines, and endorse the Coalition's four objectives:
    1. Urge the Canadian Government to call for a total ban on the use, production, stockpiling, sale, transfer or export of antipersonnel landmines;
    2. Recognize recent Canadian initiatives and support for further initiatives to assist in humanitarian mine clearance activities. These would include multilateral activities such as support of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre and other UN initiatives, as well as any unilateral activities which Canada may undertake with respect to humanitarian mine clearance;
    3. Request an immediate Canadian moratorium on the production, export and transfer of landmines, their component parts and related technology;
    4. Call on the Canadian goverment and public to increase its support for, and participation in, bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental (NGO) programs providing assistance to the victims of landmines;
  2. Encourage member agencies to participate in public awareness campaigns on landmines.
  3. Write to the Departments of Foreign Affairs and National Defence urging them to:
    1. Permit the Canadian Coalition on Landmines and other NGOs to participate on the proposed Task Force on Landmines;
    2. Solicit the Coalition's input into the Canadian government position at the Review Conference.

Government commitment to resettlement

Resolution number
7
Whereas
  1. The government of Canada has historically had a commitment to the resettlement of refugees from abroad and indeed this commitment is incorporated in the Immigration Act;
  2. The government of Canada has a humanitarian obligation to refugees;
  3. Government assistance has always been the primary program for resettlement;
  4. Private sponsorship is a complementary program to government assistance and has always been understood by the voluntary sector to be an opportunity to respond to refugees above and beyond the government's commitment;
  5. Refugee concerns have been separated from immigration concerns in the ten-year framework;
  6. The formation of the "NGO-government Committee on Private Sponsorship" could result in a shift in government practice away from Canada's commitment to the admission of refugees;
Therefore be it resolved

That the CCR call upon the Canadian government to honour and respect their commitment to the humanitarian resettlement of refugees from abroad, independent of the voluntary sector response.

Women at risk recommendations

Resolution number
6
Whereas
  1. The CCR is committed to promoting the rights and protection of refugee women, including refugee women at risk;
  2. The Women at Risk review is complete and awaiting recommendations;
  3. The CCR has developed the following recommendations within its document 'Women at Risk: Developing Recommendations':
    1. REC.1 The Canadian Women at Risk (AWR) programme should respond to women at risk. Whereas the Canadian AWR programme does not respond effectively to women in urgent need of resettlement, special mechanisms should be established, such as doing medical checks upon arrival in Canada, providing transportation grants, making use of Minister's Permits, and establishing processing timelines.

      REC.2 The AWR program should include women fleeing gender-based persecution, either in the country of origin or in the country of asylum.

      REC. 3 The Resettlement from Abroad Category should be established and used for processing AWR. The category should use the definition outlined in Specific Recommendation R7 of the report of Issue Group 3 of the 1994 Immigration Consultation.

      REC.4 The successful establishment component of admissibility criteria should be eliminated for refugees in urgent need of protection, especially refugee women.

      REC.5 Visa officers should accept and process expeditiously the referrals of Women at Risk cases from UNHCR and NGOs without an interview for the details of the persecution experience.

      REC.6 Canada should work with the UNHCR and NGOs in countries of first asylum where this will enable it to respond more effectively to refugee women at risk.

      REC.7 The training of visa officers around the issues concerning refugee women should be further improved, eg. to cover the psycho-social sequelae to trauma and expediting cases.

      REC.8 AWR programme should be managed as a separate programme within Citizenship and Immigration, enabling a more coherent implementation. All categories of women at risk should receive a transportation grant.

      REC.9 Citizenship and Immigration should implement mechanisms to measure the success of the AWR programme, which would include feedback from all programme participants. Research should be conducted on refugee women`s experiences of resettlement, including their adaptation skills and other personal resources. A monitoring system needs to be established to enable the tracking of cases from the point of referral to the end of the sponsoring period. This information would be used in visa training and the improvement of AWR policy and operations.

      REC.10 A full time position should be created within Citizenship and Immigration for the promotion and administration of the AWR programme.

      REC.11 Where no sponsors are immediately available, Canada should utilize reception centres across the country to accommodate women at risk upon arrival for an optional intensive three to six month period of healing and orientation. During this time, sponsors would be found.

      REC.12 The number of women admitted under the Women at Risk programme should increase. Canada should set an annual minimum target of the number of women it seeks to assist through the AWR programme, effective immediately.

Therefore be it resolved

That the CCR:

  1. Adopt in principle the report 'Women at Risk: Developing Recommendations';
  2. Adopt and promote the recommendations within 'Women at Risk: Developing Recommendations'.

Definition for resettlement from abroad category

Resolution number
5
Whereas

There are many refugees in need of protection through resettlement who may fall outside the Convention refugee definition;

Therefore be it resolved

That the CCR:

  1. Support specific recommendation R7 of Issue Group 3 of the 1994 Immigration Consultation which states: "That CIC adopt a broader interpretation of the term "refugee" when assessing the protection needs of individuals for whom resettlement is the only option. In particular, the working group proposes the following terminology for inclusion in the proposed Resettlement from Abroad Class definition: Country of Refugee Class Member of the country of refugee class (source of country class) means an immigrant/person:
    1. who is outside the person's country of citizenship or habitual residence (who is residing in the person's country of citizenship or of habitual residence, where the person's country of citizenship or of habitual residence is a country of citizenship or of habitual residence listed in Schedule XII)
    2. whose life, safety or freedom:
      1. has been seriously affected by civil or armed conflict, government-tolerated repression, generalized violence or other circumstances that have seriously disturbed public order; or
      2. are threatened by massive violations of human rights.
    3. in respect of whom one of the following situations applies:
      1. there is no feasible possibility, within a reasonable period of time, of a durable solution in respect of the person; or
      2. the person has a relative living in Canada; or
      3. the person has an urgent need for protection.
    4. Who is outside of Canada."
  2. Call on Citizenship and Immigration Canada to establish the Resettlement from Abroad Category using the definition outlined above.

Limitations on G-5 sponsorship

Resolution number
4
Whereas
  1. For refugees from countries such as Syria and Afghanistan, and urban refugees in many countries, there is no possibility of receiving timely or any refugee status determination by UNHCR or a host country.
  2. The requirement of host country or UNHCR recognition as refugees in order to be considered as eligible for sponsorship by a Group of 5 or by a Community Sponsor is a de facto limit on the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program that discriminates against refugees who do not have timely or any access to status determination.
  3. The CCR has adopted many resolutions over the years in support of non-discrimination in access to refugee resettlement and of family reunification.
Therefore be it resolved

that the CCR call upon the government to remove the requirement of refugee status determination for G-5 and Community Sponsors.

Refugee Resettlement Numbers

Resolution number
3
Whereas

CCR has numerous resolutions on refugee resettlement targets and levels, including Resolution 14 of November 2003 on “Refugee Resettlement Targets”;

Therefore be it resolved

that the CCR urge the Government of Canada to resettle annually a minimum of 10% of the refugees resettled globally. 

Age of Dependency

Resolution number
2
Whereas

The Government of Canada is proposing to reduce the maximum age of dependants in the Immigration and Refuge Protection Regulations from under 22 years of age to under 19 years of age;

Therefore be it resolved

that the CCR advocate that the criteria of dependency for children remain as they currently appear in the regulations (age under 22 years, full-time students and children with a disability).

Refugee Resettlement Program Changes

Resolution number
1
Whereas
  1. The Department of Citizenship and Immigration has outlined forthcoming changes to Canada’s Refugee Resettlement Program that use both protection and immigration criteria and, among other changes, call for a limiting of the numbers of refugees resettled who have high needs for services and support to achieve integration; furthermore these changes will unfairly disadvantage women refugees, the elderly and other vulnerable groups;
  2. The changes include criteria for selection based on Canada’s foreign or economic interests and ministerial interests;
  3. Recent changes to Canada’s Immigration Program will ensure that more immigrants will arrive with skills and expertise that will reduce the needs for settlement and integration services and supports;
Therefore be it resolved

that the CCR advocate that:

  1. Resettlement of refugees is first and foremost a tool of protection which must be the main motivation for Canada’s refugee resettlement program;
  2. Foreign policy interests and other political or economic interests have no place in a humanitarian program;
  3. The criteria defining the ability to successfully establish in Canada have no place in an humanitarian program that focuses on protection and should be eliminated entirely from the Refugee Resettlement Regulations;
  4. Federal and provincial governments increase resources for programs and services to facilitate better integration outcomes especially when the refugee has high needs and may require different levels of support over a longer period of time.