CCR Resolutions Database

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. The Canadian government intends to sign a "None is Too Many" agreement with the USA;
2. Under IRPA the Canadian government has confirmed its intention of only detaining minors as a last resort;
3. In the USA, the immigration authorities detain on average 5,000 separated children every year;

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’s document “Building on a Strong Foundation” calls for closer working relationships with partners, and SAHs are key partners in the private sponsorship program;
2. Current timelines for the completion of concepts such as Private Partner Sponsorship and Corporate Sponsorship do not allow sufficient time for consultation, discussion and input with partners.

It has been recognized that the situation of separated refugee children in some provinces (notably Ontario where the largest number of such children arrive) is particularly critical due to the province’s general failure to provide appropriate child welfare services to separated refugee children, and due to the province’s breach of its international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child in defining children to include only those under 16;

1. Literature has a great impact on public awareness;
2. There has been inadequate involvement of Canadian writers, poets and people of arts and letters in refugee issues;

1. The Gender Based Analysis Unit of CIC has completed a gender based analysis of C-11;
2. The analysis has identified areas of potential negative gender impacts;
3. Bill C-11 requires gender-based reporting to Parliament;

1. Victims of trafficking in Canada are in need of services including advocacy;
2. CCR member organizations are not necessarily sensitized and responsive to these needs;

1. CIC officials frequently acknowledge that the Department does not adequately collect and report statistical data on its programs;
2. There has been an increase in detentions since September 11, 2001, and accurate data has been impossible to obtain to date;
3. The CCR, the Centre for Refugee Studies, the Maytree Foundation and independent consultants hired by the Immigration Department have attempted repeatedly to obtain data from CIC on the population of refugees in limbo and have been unsuccessful;
4. Bill C-11 will shortly come into effect and will have a significant impact on detention, refugee determination and the landing process;
5. Collection and analysis of data are key components of good public policy and democratic accountability;

The CCR participated in the Durban World Conference against Racism (WCAR);

1. Large numbers of letters, e-mails and faxes have been received by CCR members alleging torture in Ethiopia by the government and its agencies;
2. Ethiopia is a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture;