CCR Resolutions Database

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.

That the CCR write to the IRB expressing concern about the inadequacy of accurate and authentic information based on first-hand information, in particular the lack of sufficient information about up-to-date events in Iran and the true picture of the terrible situation of women in that country.

1. The CCR write to the government urging the creation of a joint committee consisting of both government and non-governmental organizations involved in the private sponsorship program;
2. The CCR coordinate the selection of the non-governmental representatives on the committee from among all Master Agreement Holders and organizations involved in the private sponsorship program;
3. Such a joint committee be mandated to plan the direction of the program;
4. Such a joint committee not act as a replacement for ongoing direct communication with organizations participating in the program.

That the CCR Executive meet with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to request that:

1. The level for government-assisted refugees be restored to 13,000 and that this level be met;
2. The AAP Program be provided with sufficient funds to ensure that the level can be met;
3. To meet the 1993 level, the immediate families of accepted refugees already in Canada and those landed under the backlog be resettled immediately, whether or not they are in the family class.
4. When levels are not met by the end of the year, the balance of the quota be carried through to the following year and be added on to that year's level.

That the CCR communicate with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration recommending:

1. An action plan for the next five years (1995-2000) be developed by government and NGO representatives to enable the enactment of gender quotas of a minimum of 50% women as principal applicants by the year 1997. The development of this action plan should be developed in conjunction with stakeholders;
2. A minimum level be set for the Women at Risk Programme, effective immediately. This level would include CR1 and CR5 Women at Risk and would access the 20% of the 1994 AAP monies originally destined for indigent immigrants.

That the CCR:

1. Call on the government of Canada to:
   1. In addition to the Ismaili joint resettlement agreement, open the doors for all Afghan refugees, especially women and children who comprise the majority;
   2. Conduct a review of all rejected Afghan refugee sponsorship cases;
   3. Support the UN initiative to end the Afghan conflict through a negotiated settlement;
   4. Discourage neighbouring countries from arming the warring factions;
   5. Call on the UNHCR to provide more accurate information on the situation in Afghanistan;
2. Write a letter to the government of Canada expressing the following concerns about the new joint resettlement agreement between the government of Canada and the Ismaili Council of Canada and Focus Humanitarian Assistance Canada:
   1. We are concerned that the 500 places per year for Ismailis in Pakistan are part of the current quota for government-assisted refugees for the Middle East, not in addition to that quota. Because of this, there will be fewer places available for Iranians, Iraqis, and other Afghans;
   2. This agreement seems to set a dangerous precedent for off-loading the government's obligation for resettling refugees onto ethnic groups or other private sponsors;
   3. While resettlement of Afghan refugees is welcome, we are concerned about the predetermined selection of refugees based on religious affiliation in a region where many refugees of varying religious affiliations are in need of resettlement;
   4. We urge the government either to treat these 500 refugees as privately sponsored refugees or to expand the regional quota in order to respond to the needs of refugees of all religious affiliations.

That the CCR demand that the Canadian government:

1. Pressure the Turkish and Pakistani governments to adhere to the principle of non-refoulement (article 33 of the Geneva Convention);
2. Condemn the violation of human rights by the governments of Iran, Turkey and Pakistan and pursue the prevention of the improper use of the extradition treaties by the signatories.

That the CCR:

1. Recommend to the UNCHR to recognise that Female Genital Mutilation is a human rights issue, and that it should be treated as such;
2. Request that the Criminal Code of Canada be amended to specifically identify Female Genital Mutilation as a criminal act, and explore the possibility of appropriate new legislation;
3. Urge the Federal and Provincial Ministries to appropriate funds and resources to provide counselling and support groups for the victims of FGM, for educational programmes to take place within the communities in which Female Genital Mutilation is practised and in order for the affected communities to educate the mainstream Canadian society, in particular, health service providers and educational institutions;
4. Continue to pursue the issue of Female Genital Mutilation through information sharing, education and in advocacy;
5. Explore the inclusion of FGM on the platform for action in the upcoming fourth world conference on Women, in Beijing 1995;
6. Urge Canada to provide protection to women and to women and their daughters who are fleeing the FGM practice.

That the CCR: 

1. Urge the Federal Immigration Department to consider the removal of any eligibility criteria to be asked at the point of entry or inland offices at a time when claimants are seeking asylum;
2. Request that the question of ability to pay for medical costs be removed and that health services be made available unconditionally to all claimants regardless of ability to pay;
3. Urge the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to remove the mandatory condition that claimants sign the declaration of eligibility.

That the CCR:

1. Condemn the imposition of cost recovery fees for landing application from all Convention refugees and their dependants;
2. Request that the government amend the regulations to eliminate these processing fees; or in the alternative, that the government accept and process landing applications from all Convention refugees and their dependants when they are received and defer the payment of processing fees until the point of landing.

That the CCR communicate to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration strongly urging:

1. The revision of eligibility criteria for refugee resettlement programmes with special changes to the Women at Risk Programme criteria, enabling it to be a programme responsive to the urgent protection needs of refugee women;
2. The elimination of the successful establishment component of the admissibility criteria for refugees in urgent need of protection, especially refugee women.

That the CCR:

1. Call upon the Canadian government to:
   1. Publicly clarify the positions it has taken in its discussions with the United States and in multilateral discussions;
   2. Take all available measures, in consultation with the NGO sector, to ensure that
      1. Any screening process set up in the region includes all necessary safeguards for meaningful protection;
      2. No appropriate solutions, such as third country resettlement, be excluded before individual cases are examined;
   3. Select a certain number of Haitian refugees for resettlement in Canada; potential candidates should include Haitians now in vulnerable situations in various locations in the Americas;
2. Call upon the UNHCR to designate adequate resources to ensure that international protection standards are upheld during this process;
3. Approach other organizations in the development and human rights fields to support and participate in our advocacy initiatives on this issue.

That the CCR request the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work to include a section on refugees in the social work curriculum as a mandatory component.

That the CCR:

1. Request the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and the Chairperson of the Immigration and Refugee Board to study the interaction of the above two reports and to prepare an implementation plan to co-ordinate the changes to be made as a result of these reports;
2. Request that the CCR be made a full participant in the preparation of the above implementation plan;
3. Undertake to develop by the end of September 1994 a common position on the essential principles from both of the above reports that it will advocate in discussions with the government and the IRB.

That the CCR undertake to communicate to the government that:

1.   Immigrant settlement services should not be limited to new arrivals within a restricted time period (wherever limitation exists);
2. Immigrant serving agencies are qualified not only to provide initial settlement services but also a wide range of specialized services such as family counselling, employment and job training, etc.;
3. Immigrant serving agencies should have equal access to funding to meet unmet needs of the community they serve, including those needs which extend beyond the initial stage of settlement.

That the CCR call upon the IRB to ensure that:

1. There is coherence in the overall accreditation of the interpreters in all the languages;
2. Interpreters are made accountable through licensing and be required to observe codes of conduct;
3. Those previously recruited are made to take an updated test before certification.

That

1. The CCR request that the Government of Canada investigate the true costs of each refugee claim and produce its findings
2. The Legal Affairs Committee of the CCR be directed to investigate the possibility of initiating legal proceedings against the Department of Immigration for "spreading false news" and for knowingly distributing incorrect information that is prejudicial to refugee claimants.

That the CCR request the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to direct visa officers to accept and process expeditiously the referrals of Women at Risk cases from the UNHCR and NGOs without an interview for the details of the persecution experience.

That the CCR:

1. Request the Canadian government to make representations to the UNHCR, the CPA steering committee and the CPA fellow signatories to:
   1. establish a mechanism to identify, review and correct cases which have been egregiously denied refugee status, with the use of the UNHCR's mandate authority;
   2. respect the safety and dignity of asylum seekers, by immediately recanting the policy of deprivation measures which has led to reductions in food rations and cuts in educational and medical services;
   3. abstain from the use of force and violence in the repatriation programme;
   4. quickly resettle recognized refugees, many of whom have languished for years in transit camps.
2. Make direct representations to the UNHCR to this effect.

That:

1. The CCR is interested in participating in the "interim review" of rejected refugee claimants announced by the Minister;
2. CCR involvement must include full participation in designing the review process and establishing its criteria and would include representation at all working sessions of the Departmental planning body;
3. All rejected claims, irrespective of date of rejection, be included in the review;
4. If the CCR is adequately represented on a management committee to oversee administration of the review, the CCR recommend to its members that they circulate information on the review and that the CCR also encourage its members to assist eligible claimants in making appropriate submissions to the review process, on a non-exclusive basis.