In July 2021, the Government of Canada announced a new dedicated refugee stream for human rights defenders. The stream made up to 250 spaces available to HRDs, over and above pre-existing refugee commitments.
In July 2023, the Government of Canada announced the expansion of the stream, making up to 500 spaces available for the resettlement of HRDs.
Under the Afghanistan humanitarian measures, an additional 900 spaces have been dedicated to human rights defenders.
Key Messages
Canada has a proud and long-standing tradition of providing protection to those at risk. The work of human rights defenders is essential to promote and protect fundamental freedoms and rights of people around the world.
That is why we created a refugee stream for human rights defenders in 2021. We have since expanded this stream and will resettle up to 500 human rights defenders and family members per year, through the Government-Assisted Refugees program.
In addition to this global annual commitment, we expanded the number of spaces available to human rights defenders through our Afghanistan commitments.
Supplementary Information
The stream was carefully designed to reach those human rights defenders most at risk all around the world, covering people of any nationality, race, ethnicity, gender and/or SOGIESC. We are working with experts to identify and resettle the defenders at greatest risk.
