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CCR Resolutions Database

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  • Guidelines on gender persecution for visa posts

    Res.: 16
    Whereas:
    1. IRB Guidelines on women refugee claimants fearing gender-related persecution were issued in March 1993 by the chairperson pursuant to section 65(3) of the Immigration Act;
    2. IRB members are expected to use the Guidelines in applying the Convention refugee definition to ensure that women who fear gender persecution can be found to be refugees;
    3. The IRB Guidelines were distributed to all overseas visa posts as information;
    Therefore be it resolved:

    That the CCR encourage:

    1. The adoption of these Guidelines in visa posts for use in overseas refugee selection;
    2. The department of Citizenship and Immigration to monitor the implementation of the Guidelines for overseas selection;
    3. The inclusion of the Guidelines in the training of visa officers to facilitate greater understanding of gender persecution.

  • Somali resettlement from Kenya

    Res.: 14
    Whereas:
    1. From mid-August to early September, Canada asked Somali asylum-seekers in Kenya having close links to Canada (including brothers and sisters), to identify themselves for the Canadian resettlement program;
    2. This raised high expectations among residents in the southeastern camps where the notices appeared;
    3. Somali Canadians have as a result been pressured by relatives in these camps to put in undertakings;
    4. This has caused great frustration in the community for those unable to make these commitments. In addition, the fact that the CIC officers knew nothing of these notices, and denied their existence, added confusion to frustration;
    Therefore be it resolved:
    That the CCR strongly urge the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to honour the promise implicit in these notices, and facilitate the entry to Canada of parents and their dependent children through the government sponsorship process, where the family in Canada is not yet sufficiently settled to place an undertaking of assistance.

  • World population conference

    Res.: 19
    Whereas:
    1. The Canadian government is participating in UN discussions preparing a conference document for the International Conference on Population and Development to take place in Cairo, Summer 1994;
    2. Non-governmental discussions tend to focus on family planning and the environment, although a significant part of the conference business involves migration and refugee affairs;
    3. The document so far reflects a shift from the promise of safeguards for the rights and dignity of refugees and migrants expressed in the 1994 Mexico Declaration to a bald assertion of an absolute right of states to control the entry and residence of persons onto their territory;
    4. The need to uphold the right of asylum was declared by all governments at the Vienna Conference on Human Rights in June 1993 and was declared by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to her Executive Committee in October 1993;
    Therefore be it resolved:
    That the CCR and its members urge MPs and Canadian government officials to work to ensure that the Conference documents fully reinforce the right to asylum and reinforce the need for safeguards for the rights of refugees and migrants at borders and elsewhere on state territory.

  • Delayed departures of accepted Kurdish refugees in Turkey

    Res.: 12
    Whereas:
    1. CCR Resolution 6, May 1993, called on the Canadian embassy in Ankara to recognize the risk to the lives of Kurdish refugees and expedite their resettlement in Canada;
    2. There are approximately 400 Iraqi refugees identified by the UNHCR who are living in wretched conditions in camps in Turkey even though they were accepted by Canada over one year ago;
    3. Medicals are beginning to expire as a result of the long delays;
    4. These people have not been considered for resettlement in other countries because of their acceptance by Canada;
    5. Tension in camps is rising and there is fear of refoulement;
    Therefore be it resolved:
    That the CCR contact the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration exhorting Canada to let all of these already accepted refugees depart for Canada immediately.