AFGH – International Comparison – April 25, 2022

Key messages

• Canada collaborates with its international allies as part of its commitment to resettle Afghan refugees, particularly with the Migration 5 (M5), an international forum of immigration and border security agencies from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.
• Canada also closely collaborates with the European Union and its Member States on the resettlement of vulnerable Afghans and refugees to share information and exchange on best practices between countries.
• In addition, the Government of Canada maintains existing, and builds new, relationships with international, key multilateral, and non-governmental organizations who are critical to providing support to Canada’s refugee resettlement efforts.
• Outside of the United States, the Government of Canada has made the largest public commitment to Afghan resettlement, including among the M5. Canada’s refugee and resettlement programs also continue to be used as models internationally and countries including Argentina, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand and Spain have undertaken or committed to programs similar to those in Canada.

Supplementary messages

M5

• Migration 5 (M5) partners carried out evacuations from Afghanistan in August 2021 as part of their full withdrawal from Afghanistan including the closing of their respective embassy.
• In addition to the Afghan persons evacuated via the “air bridge”, several M5 members have made specific commitments to resettle Afghan refugees, and all have identified specific “priority populations”. While they differ from member to member, all include locally engaged staff and their families.
• Canada, Australia and the UK have identified particularly vulnerable cohorts, such as women and girls, ethnic minorities such as the Hazara, LGBTQI individuals and religious minorities (i.e., Sikh and Hindu). Canada and the UK have also distinctly identified human rights defenders and journalists.

NGO and Multilateral Organizational Relationships

• All M5 partners maintain strong relationships with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM),who deliver important critical support and services to M5 refugee resettlement efforts.
• IRCC has also developed partnerships with NGOs such as Front Line Defenders and ProtectDefenders.eu. Working with these organizations has allowed Canada to support facilitated travel of our clients from Afghanistan to a third country, where they are then processed for travel to Canada.

European Union

• On December 2021, 15 European Union member states agreed to resettle approximately 38,000 as part of a global resettlement target of 60,000. The EU has not publically outlined priority populations, which vary from country to country.
• The Government of Canada engages regularly with the European Union, both through our mission in Brussels, and through participation in the Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees as well as the European Union Agency for Asylum’s (EUAA) Expert Platform on Safe Pathways for Afghans.

Background

• The Migration 5 (M5) is an international forum of immigration and border security agencies from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. M5 partners share values and commonalities, as well as tangible tools and assets such as staging areas and referral/facilitation partners. Both IRCC and CBSA participate for Canada. Officials from M5 countries have actively engaged on Afghanistan since August 2021, to share information on respective responses and explore solutions to shared challenges.

  	Australia	Canada	New Zealand	United Kingdom	United States
  Resettlement commitments	31,500 over next four years.	At least 40,000	Unspecified allocation within existing quota of 1,500	At least 20,000 people over the next few years, with 5,000 in the first year; in addition to locally engaged staff and family who were already relocated.	Although a resettlement commitment has not been publicly announced, funding was provided to support the resettlement of up to 95,000
  Priority Populations	Locally engaged staff /extended family; Temporary Humanitarian stay visas; Relative-sponsored UNHCR refugees; Existing citizenship by descent; Persecuted minorities; Women/ children; Those closely linked to AU	Locally engaged staff/family; Interpreters /Afghan nationals with significant, enduring relationship to Canada; Afghan nationals vulnerable/at risk; Priority Processing of in-Canada Family Class/ Protected Persons	NZ agencies staff; Partners/ dependent children of NZ citizens and PRs; Those granted residence by special direction	Locally engaged staff/family; Ethnic/ religious minorities; Women/ girls at risk; Democratic values/ women’s rights advocates	Locally engaged staff; Interpreters; Individuals who worked for US-funded programs/ projects; Individuals employed by US-based media/ NGOs

• The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) Expert Platform was created in October 2021, to facilitate exchanges between EU Member States and other countries on operational implementation and EU-specific issues related to resettlement.
• Participants in the EUAA Expert Platform meetings on safe pathways for Afghans include the European Commission and EU Member States, Schengen Associated States (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein), US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and international organizations such as UNHCR, IOM, International Centre for Migration Policy Development, and the Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees (IGC).