Afghanistan’s ambassador is urging action to ensure Afghan who have been allowed to come here Canada does not bear the risk of being detained by Taliban When they apply for passport.
Under the Taliban, Afghans are facing door-to-door searches, extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances, Ambassador to Canada Hassan Sorosh said in an interview.
He said Afghans who helped Canada and its international allies before the Taliban came under control are in a position of “high vulnerability”.
“In Afghanistan, there is a risk of detention and prosecution of people who want to obtain passports under the Taliban,” he said. “Those who worked for the Canadian government and international partners—the risk is always there.”
The ambassador called for a relaxation of rules on documents for accepted Afghan refugees and immigrants trying to reach Canada.
“We want and we hope to have a more flexible approach when it comes to documentation inside Afghanistan and the paperwork needed to bring people to Canada,” he said.
He also called on Canada to expand eligibility criteria to enter the country as part of a humanitarian program set up to help vulnerable Afghans facing Taliban persecution.
Canadian charities helping Afghans say many people with permission to travel to Canada are unable to fly into neighboring countries because they do not have paperwork or passports to cross the border.
Others wait so long in countries like Pakistan and Uzbekistan that their visas have expired for their applications to be processed by Ottawa and sent back to Afghanistan where they face Taliban retaliation. Does matter.
Aidan Strickland, spokesman for Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, said the department is telling Afghans who are unable to leave it “could help facilitate travel to Pakistan.”
She said Canada was issuing single-trip travel documents for Afghans who made it out of the country but did not have a passport to board the plane.
He said, “We are doing everything we can to help Afghans in and out of Afghanistan, including working with partners, state institutions, international organizations and non-profit organizations in the region to ensure a safe passage for all.” to be identified.”
Sorosh urged Canadians not to forget Afghanistan, as the world community continues to focus on the crisis in Ukraine.
The ambassador said Afghanistan is facing “a terrible and tragic humanitarian crisis”, with starvation facing a large proportion of its children, he said.
He said the recent earthquake, which killed nearly 800 people and injured many others, damaged buildings, schools and water networks, causing “unimaginable suffering”.
He said the poverty rate is projected to rise to 97 percent by the end of the year, when two-thirds of the population will need life-saving food aid, according to the United Nations.
Sorosh said the Taliban’s tough stance on women is making the situation worse as many people are no longer allowed to work.
“Women are slowly but systematically being wiped out of public life,” he warned. “They’re denied access to education, they’re not able to work, they can’t protest—that means they slowly become invisible.”
He added: “Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are denied secondary education.”
Sorosh, whose embassy has no links with the Taliban, is still providing consular services to Afghans living in North America, including passport renewal and issuance of birth certificates.
He said that the Ottawa embassy is also serving Afghans living in the US since the closure of the Afghan embassies in the US.
The embassy is being funded for passport renewal and other consular services for a fee and on a very low budget and staff.
Sorosh said he was grateful to Canada for opening its doors and providing humanitarian aid to Afghans fleeing the Taliban.
“Canada has always been one of the first countries to respond,” he said.
Although he said it was important not to legitimize or recognize the Taliban, he supported steps to make it easier for charities to work in Afghanistan to provide aid.
Currently, any dealings with the Taliban are illegal under Canadian anti-terrorism laws, as the Taliban is a designated terrorist organization.
NGOs have called on Canada to introduce criminal code exemptions for ongoing humanitarian programs in Afghanistan, like the United States.
“I have great hope that the outcome will help lead to a solution of sorts that will help in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan without legitimizing the Taliban, without helping the Taliban consolidate its power,” the ambassador said.
Sorosh said the Taliban were becoming increasingly rigid and were not a liberal or more inclusive version of the previous government.
He added that they are “the same old Taliban—they haven’t changed.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 8, 2022.
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