Refugees: Afghanistan

(asked on 18th October 2023) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to take steps to ensure that freelance journalists who are threatened by the Afghan government will be eligible for resettlement under the second stage of pathway three of the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme.


Answered by
Robert Jenrick Portrait
Robert Jenrick
This question was answered on 23rd October 2023

The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help relocate at-risk people in Afghanistan. To date, nearly 24,600 people have been brought to safety, this includes at-risk journalists, as well as the first individuals to be relocated under Pathway 3 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).

Under the first stage of Pathway 3, the government will consider for resettlement all eligible at risk-British Council and contractors and alumni, who expressed interest during the FCDO’s window of opportunity. Our immediate focus is on ensuring their resettlement.

In the second stage of Pathway 3, our commitment to work with international partners and NGOs to welcome wider groups of Afghans at risk still stands. We are not able to open for referrals at this present time, but further information will be published in due course.

We recognise there are many vulnerable individuals who remain in Afghanistan and the region. Unfortunately, the capacity of the UK to resettle people is not unlimited and difficult decisions about who will be prioritised have to be made.

Reticulating Splines