CCR Resolutions Database

Persons of certain countries of origin such as Pakistan and some African states appear to be detained on the basis of identity for extended periods;

1. There is documented evidence of corruption in some overseas offices of the UNHCR and NGO partners who implement UNHCR programs;
2. UNHCR itself has recognized this problem in its Kenya offices, and has taken measures to address the problem, one such measure being the removal of staff accused of corruption;
3. NGOs too have power over refugees and some have been accused of corruption and exploitation of refugees, particularly women and children in West Africa;

1. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has delayed the implementation of the Refugee Appeal Division without postponing the introduction of one-member IRB panels;
2. Refugee claimants' right to a fair hearing is thereby inadequately protected;
3. The Minister announced orally on May 17, 2002 that he would implement the appeal within one year;

1. Separated children are by definition without the care and protection of their parents or other primary caregivers, often face many dangers during their flight and arrive in Canada disoriented and frightened;
2. Front-end security interviews require separated children to respond to often lengthy and detailed questions including those related to their refugee claim;
3. Separated children would be unlikely to know of the 1951 Refuge Convention reasons and their flight reasons are frequently multi-factorial and may include child-specific violations of human rights;
4. It is inappropriate that children under 18 be interviewed in the absence of a parent or guardian;

1. The human rights situation in Guatemala is deteriorating;
2. The Québec-Guatemala accompaniment project, an organization that works to protect the basic rights of Guatemalans, is undertaking urgent actions;
3. Guatemala is on the source country list;

1. CIC is committed to implementing a model for referral agencies as one of the access control mechanisms for identifying refugees for resettlement to Canada;
2. CCR has expressed some concerns with how the potential models will be designed and implemented particularly with respect to controlling the ability of refugees to access resettlement as a means of protection and as a durable solution and with the impact and implications of these models for the referral partner agencies;

1. Children make up approximately as much as half of all asylum seekers in the industrialized world;
2. Refugee and immigrant youth are particularly vulnerable and have a unique set of needs;

1. More than a thousand people are presently awaiting a hearing at the IRB for a repeat claim;
2. The transitional measures will have the consequence of depriving these claimants of their repeat claim by deeming them ineligible under IRPA;
3. IRPA bars access to PRRA for repeat claimants who have returned to Canada less than 6 months after their departure;
4. Many of these repeat claimants returned to Canada more than 3 months but less than 6 months after their departure, and would thus be ruled ineligible for PRRA;
5. A significant number of repeat claims are determined to be refugees;

1. The government of Canada has made a commitment to expedite the processing of Sierra Leonean refugees overseas after strongly encouraging Sponsorship Agreement Holders across Canada to get involved in the Sierra Leone special initiative;
2. The situation in Sierra Leone is still dangerous, unstable and volatile in spite of the presence of a 17,000 member United Nations peacekeeping force and the return of some Sierra Leonean refugees who are still internally displaced. The recent influx of 10,000 Liberian refugees also adds to the instability in Sierra Leone;

1. There is an increasing number of reports of deficient services in refugee camps such as insufficient food;
2. These deficiencies have been cited as one of the major factors exposing refugee women to sexual exploitation by those who are charged with distributing food and other humanitarian relief;
3. In several refugee camps in Africa the World Food Program has cut down the food ration for refugees;

1. The government has recently announced that they would delay the implementation of the RAD;
2. This announcement is a betrayal of parliament's will as expressed in the IRPA;
3. The CCR, UNHCR and the Inter American Commission on Human Rights consider an appeal on the merits to be essential for a coherent, consistent and fair refugee determination process;
4. Next month the government is announcing a "None is Too Many" agreement with the U.S. which would shut our borders to most refugees;
5. The U.S. systematically detains undocumented refugees and places them with convicted criminals;

1. The IRB draft rules provide criteria for the appointment of designated representatives for child refugee claimants which do not include cultural and language awareness and sensitivity to the needs of children;
2. CIC has no criteria for the appointment of designated representatives;

There is no consistently applied government policy priorizing refugee processing, the decision being left to individual officers at the posts;

1. Federal government policies and regulations often have differential negative impacts on racialized communities;
2. There are no existing instruments to measure and remedy the differential impacts;

1. There is in Zimbabwe a large number of extra-judicial executions, forced disappearances and cases of systematic sexual violence reported by Amnesty International, constituting a situation of massive, flagrant and systematic human rights abuses in international law;
2. There is a strong concern with the abuse of the "no credible basis" finding in Zimbabwean refugee hearings;

1. Iraqi refugees have been confined to Rafha camp in Saudi Arabia for 12 years, awaiting a durable solution;
2. UNHCR has requested Canada to participate in the resettlement of these refugees;
3. Participation in the resettlement effort is essential to the overall resolution of the plight of these refugees, as Saudi Arabia has made a commitment to grant a measure of local integration to those refugees who do not wish to be resettled, if progress is made towards resettlement of the others;
4. Canada has responded that they will consider participating in a responsibility-sharing effort but has been unable to specify a time-line;

1. Twenty-seven member organizations of CCR responded to a CCR request by providing anecdotal information about problems arising with the use of the Interim Federal Health (IFH) program;
2. The report developed by CCR was raised with CIC in a conference call at which time CIC did not recognize many of the problems as indicators of systemic weaknesses within the IFH program;

1. In April 2001, as part of the larger Integration Initiative supported by the tripartite partners in resettlement, the International Conference on the Reception and Integration of Refugees was held in Sweden. The conference endorsed resettlement and integration as important planks in the international protection system and durable solutions. Among the outcomes of the Conference is a set of principles endorsed by all the participants that provides a platform for further initiatives to take place involving traditional and emerging resettlement countries.
2. One of the elements of the Initiative, the UNHCR Reception and Integration Handbook, will enunciate a framework for supporting people from refugee backgrounds in resettlement countries to rebuild their lives. This process is underway and continues to involve a Task Force made up of governmental and NGO representatives from many of the traditional and emerging resettlement countries, including Canada.
3. Other outcomes have begun in less structured ways such as through informal sharing of information, site visits and exchange of material resources. In Canada, these early activities include the facilitation of site visits and conference participation by representatives from Chile, one of the emerging resettlement countries in southern South America and the resulting commitments to ongoing relationships between Canadian NGOs and the Chilean resettlement partners.
4. As UNHCR does not inherently have the expertise in reception and integration issues, and as the financing of a focal point for the Integration Initiative concludes as of December 2001, the process for facilitating the continuation of the integration initiative, including the post-ICRIRR process, is vulnerable.
5. Canada took a lead role in the planning process leading up to the ICRIRR conference and has endorsed the overall Integration Initiative including becoming a member of the Reference Group for the Integration Initiative and supporting governmental participation in the Task Force responsible for developing the Reception and Integration Handbook. In recognition of this leadership role, UNHCR requested the Government of Canada to Chair the Reference Group and provide leadership in facilitating the post ICRIRR process. To date Canada has not responded to this request.
6. The ICRIRR Principles include commitment to tripartite processes and the participation of relevant partners concerned with the resettlement and integration of refugees. The UNHCR Working Group on Resettlement, currently a bilateral forum, through the Reference Group for the Integration Initiative, is tasked with providing follow-up to the ICRIRR process. Furthermore, the Working Group on Resettlement is also the principal body of UNHCR and its resettlement partners for dialogue on ongoing broader refugee resettlement policies and initiatives.
7. During the Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement in Geneva (June 2001), participants expressed interest in including NGO representation on the UNHCR Working Group on Resettlement. Although there is receptivity to NGO presence at the Working Group this has yet to be defined and agreed upon by the existing UNHCR and governmental membership.
8. The Canadian Council for Refugees was actively engaged in the preparation for and participation in the ICRIRR Conference and endorsed the principles and the resolutions evolving from the Conference. Furthermore, the CCR is also considering how it may participate more actively in international fora.

1. The CCR has become increasingly involved in international activities and consultations with respect to refugee protection, resettlement and integration;
2. International forums and discussions impact Canada’s own policies and programs within the global context;

1. The Province of BC has in place an appropriate model for the protection, care and guardianship of all separated children;
2. The current BC government is now considering reduction of these services and lowering the age limit for such services;

1. Canada has made an international commitment to combat trafficking in women and children and to extend protection to the victims of trafficking through the protocol on trafficking in persons;
2. Canada and Canadians are complicit in perpetuating trafficking in women and children as a receiving country and as customers;
3. Some women and children may be eligible for refugee status but others do not obviously qualify because the human rights abuses have occurred in Canada, not the country of origin;

1. There are expanded grounds for inadmissibility that will impact on eligibility to make a refugee claim in Bill C-11;
2. Eligibility decisions will be made during front-end processing by CIC officers many of whom will be newly recruited employees to meet the enhanced resource needs under the new bill;
3. There have been previous resolutions calling on CIC to provide training and to invite NGO participation in the training of their staff;

1. The current interpretation of the terms “general public” and “advocacy” by the Charities Branch means that many organizations serving immigrants and refugees, women and ethnospecific communities do not meet the criteria for being granted charitable status;
2. Many organizations have been denied or lost charitable status because they are deemed to serve special interest groups and not the general public or because they include advocacy as part of their work;

1. The Auditor General of Canada in his report of April 1998 devoted an entire chapter (Chapter 6) to the demographic challenges facing Canada, saying “We are living longer and we are having fewer children. These are indisputable facts;”
2. The Auditor General has pointed to the “significant impact” of these demographic trends, particularly on the economy and on the long-term financial condition of the government.
3. The Auditor General has drawn attention to the inadequacy of the information provided by the Government to Parliament and the public about the implications of current demographic trends and their potential impact;
4. The Government of Canada appears to have taken no overt action to respond to the recommendations of the Auditor General in these matters;

1. The situation of refugees in Pakistan is increasingly precarious;
2. Conditions necessary for repatriation as a durable or even physically safe solution will not be established in Afghanistan for some time to come;
3. The level of instability requires a special level of response from all countries that provide humanitarian support and resettlement options for Afghans externally displaced;
4. The Canadian Government is in a position to respond to the situation of these persons with concrete actions;
5. A clear response by the Canadian Government will send a strong positive message about Afghan refugees to the Canadian public;