Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Hazara people are classified as a vulnerable ethnic group under the terms of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Programme.

Through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), the UK will relocate up to 20,000 people at risk. It will prioritise those who have stood up for values such as democracy and women’s rights in Afghanistan, as well as vulnerable groups, including ethnic and religious minorities such as the Hazara people.

The first to be resettled through this scheme will be those who arrived in the UK under the evacuation programme, which included individuals who were considered to be at particular risk – including women’s rights activists, prosecutors and journalists. We will work with international organisations such as UNHCR to identify others eligible to come here under ACRS.

We are working urgently to stand up the remaining elements of the scheme, amid the complex and changing picture. We are working closely across government and with NGOs, charities, local authorities and civil society groups to ensure support is provided to people who are resettled through this route.

Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out in the policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement.