Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his Pakistani counterpart on (a) the principle of non-refoulement and (b) its other obligations under international human rights law in the context of the treatment of Afghan refugees.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government is working with the UN Refugee Agency and other international organisations to monitor the return of Afghans from Pakistan, including the humanitarian and human rights implications. We regularly raise human rights at the highest levels with the Government of Pakistan. The Foreign Secretary met with Pakistan's Caretaker Foreign Minister on 30 November 2023 and received assurances towards the safety of Afghans who are eligible for UK resettlement under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) schemes. Since September, we have committed £18.5 million to the International Organisation for Migration in Afghanistan to support undocumented returnees.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing financial support to people that host Afghan refugees in their homes.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The UK has a long history of supporting refugees in need of protection. Our resettlement schemes have provided thousands of people the chance to start new lives in the UK.
As set out previously, the Department of Levelling UP, Housing and Communities is exploring a range of other accommodation options to support ACRS households, whilst recognising the specific needs of Afghan families.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to directly consult with (a) asylum seekers and (b) refugees to understand where more integration support may be required.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All refugees and those granted protection in the UK should be able to fully integrate into life here and become self-sufficient, providing for themselves and their families, and contributing to the economy.
Refugees (those who have been granted asylum, humanitarian protection or temporary protection under the Immigration Rules), as well as individuals on our resettlement schemes with Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK; have access to mainstream benefits and services to enable their integration; and we are working across Government to ensure these services meet the needs of refugees.
Integration support is coordinated by local authorities, who are best placed to support the needs of those resettled in their area. The Home Office provides local authorities with a core tariff of £20,520 per person to cover resettlement and integration costs for those who arrive via refugee resettlement schemes, including the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS). This tariff can be used flexibly by the local authorities to meet the integration needs of the refugees they are supporting.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential risk to Afghan refugees who are deported from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
In Pakistan we are working with the UN Refugee Agency to ensure Pakistan, which has a long history of hosting vulnerable refugees, adheres to its international human rights obligations. In Afghanistan, there has been a significant scale up in the provision of emergency assistance to returnees at the border and we are following the humanitarian and human rights implications closely, including the work of the Taliban Refugee Commission to aid the resettlement of people returning. Since September, we have committed £18.5 million to the International Organisation for Migration in Afghanistan to support vulnerable undocumented people returning from Pakistan and Iran.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an estimate of the number of refugees relocated to Rwanda via resettlement schemes from other countries.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
In October 2023, Rwanda hosted 135,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
Rwanda hosts the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM), which facilitates the temporary evacuation of refugees and asylum-seekers from Libya. By September 2023, 1,737 refugees and asylum seekers had arrived in Rwanda under the ETM. Once in Rwanda, the UNHCR registers and verifies the refugees and asylum seekers and determines their refugee status. Rwanda currently hosts 698 refugees and asylum seekers under this scheme, pending resettlement in third countries. They also have the option of returning to their home countries or staying and integrating in Rwanda, although no refugees have chosen this so far.
We are also aware from open source reporting of refugees from Afghanistan and Sudan who have successfully resettled in Rwanda, including:
a) The entire student body of the School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA), a girls' boarding school which relocated from Kabul to Rwanda after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Nearly 250 members of the SOLA community, including all 100 students, arrived in Rwanda. More Afghan students continue to arrive and live/stay at the school in Rwanda each year.
b) Sudan's University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) relocated to Rwanda because of civil war in its home country. The UMST plans to transfer over 7,000 students to Rwanda. So far, 280 students have arrived in Kigali, been granted student visas, and are continuing their studies.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many flights his Department (a) has chartered and (b) plans to charter to transport Afghan refugees from Pakistan since October for (i) each month in 2023 and (ii) the first three months of 2024; what estimate he has made of the total number of flights that will be chartered in total; and whether the total number of flights will be calculated on the number of Afghan refugees currently receiving UK Government support in Pakistan.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Resettlement of eligible Afghans remains a top priority for this Government.
The latest published Immigration system statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) show that at the end of September 2023, around 24,600 vulnerable people affected by the events in Afghanistan have been brought to safety so far.
The UK Government and our partners will arrange and fund travel for those accepted under our Afghan schemes as part of the resettlement and relocation process. Depending on the individual circumstances, this may be via charter or commercial flights.
Flights for those being resettled under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) are organised by the International Organisation for Migration, in line with requests from the Home Office. As flights are operational you will appreciate that we cannot go into more detail about them.
We will continue to honour our commitment to bring eligible Afghans to the UK, with new arrivals going directly into settled accommodation where possible.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has made representations to the Government of Pakistan on the safety of Afghan refugees in that country who are eligible for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Department, including the Foreign Secretary and the British High Commissioner to Islamabad, has made such representations, and will continue to do so. We have received assurances from the Government of Pakistan that Afghans being supported in Pakistan under the Afghans Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will remain safe in Pakistan while they await relocation to the UK. An MOD-led operation has relocated over 1,500 ARAP-eligible Afghans to the UK since September.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department provides support to Palestinian people living in the UK to (a) work and (b) study; and whether his Department provides support to Palestinian people resident in the UK to provide homes for family residing in (i) Gaza and (ii) the West Bank.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Since 2015, over half a million people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK. This includes over 28.600 individuals resettled to the UK under our global resettlement schemes. We continue to provide the most vulnerable refugees in need of protection a route to safety directly from regions of conflict and instability through these schemes, which include the UK Resettlement Scheme, Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement scheme. This represents one of the most generous resettlement offers in the UK's history. However, the U.K. only has finite capacity. We cannot provide a safe and legal route for every conflict in the world.
There are no plans to introduce bespoke arrangements for people arriving from the region, and we are not considering establishing a separate route for Palestinians to come to the UK. Immediate family members of British citizens, and those settled in the UK, who wish to come and live in the UK and do not have a current UK visa, can apply under one of the existing family visa routes. The UK's efforts are focussed on ensuring aid reaches those who need in most. The Prime Minister announced on Monday 23 October that the UK will provide a further £20 million of humanitarian aid for civilians. This latest funding is in addition to the £10 million of aid announced by the Prime Minister last week.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the impact of the deportations of Afghans from Pakistan on religious minorities affected by the deportations, particularly (1) Hazaras, and (2) Ahmadis.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government continues to monitor the return of Afghans from Pakistan. Pakistan has a long history of welcoming vulnerable refugees and we urge them to respect the human rights of all Afghans in Pakistan. We are working with the UN Refugee Agency to ensure Pakistan adheres to its international human rights obligations. Since September, we have committed £18.5 million to the International Organisation for Migration in Afghanistan to support vulnerable undocumented people returning from Pakistan and Iran. We are monitoring the situation in Afghanistan, including the humanitarian and human rights implications. We note the Taliban's creation of a Refugee Commission to aid the resettlement of people returning.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the level of instability in Afghanistan as a result of the mass deportations of Afghans from Pakistan.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government continues to monitor the return of Afghans from Pakistan. Pakistan has a long history of welcoming vulnerable refugees and we urge them to respect the human rights of all Afghans in Pakistan. We are working with the UN Refugee Agency to ensure Pakistan adheres to its international human rights obligations. Since September, we have committed £18.5 million to the International Organisation for Migration in Afghanistan to support vulnerable undocumented people returning from Pakistan and Iran. We are monitoring the situation in Afghanistan, including the humanitarian and human rights implications. We note the Taliban's creation of a Refugee Commission to aid the resettlement of people returning.