Canada to resettle female Afghan judges, families living in limbo
Category: News & Politics
Via: buzz-of-the-orient • 2 years ago • 33 commentsBy: By Anna Mehler Paperny - Reuters
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Canada to resettle female Afghan judges, families living in limbo
© Reuters/ALKIS KONSTANTINIDISFILE PHOTO: Afghan lawyer Bibi Chaman Hafizi poses for a picture in her apartment in Athens
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada will take in female Afghan judges and their families who have been living in limbo, primarily in Greece, since their evacuation from Afghanistan in the fall, a spokesperson for the immigration minister said Friday.
In addition to the judges and their families, a group totalling about 230 people, Canada will also resettle an unspecified number of Afghans from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities who had been referred by a third-party aid organization, the spokesperson said.
They are expected to come to Canada next year but there is no firm date.
Canada has promised to resettle 40,000 Afghan refugees but has no timeline for doing so. Since the Taliban took control of the country after the U.S. troop withdrawal in August, Canada has resettled 3,915 Afghans with connections to the Canadian government and another 2,535 on humanitarian grounds, according to government figures.
Afghan women made great strides in the two decades since the Taliban last ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, joining previously all-male bastions such as the judiciary, the media and politics.
"All the achievements of 20 years came back to zero within the blink of an eye," said Freshta Masoni, a family court judge staying in Athens with her toddler daughters.
Since returning to power, the Taliban pledged to protect women's rights in accordance with Islamic law, announcing a general "amnesty" for all former state workers. But advocates fear a backslide to when women were not allowed to work and girls were banned from school.
Even if they can leave the country, Afghan asylum-seekers may face years of waits amid logistical backlogs and delays. Western countries usually resettle refugees referred by the UN refugee agency, which has limited capacity to process applications for resettlement.
"The biggest bottleneck there is the issue that referral partners in the region have not been able to ramp up capacity," Canada's immigration minister, Sean Fraser, told Reuters earlier this month. "These challenges are going to take a little bit of time to sort out."
Afghanistan's refugee situation is different from the Syrian refugee crisis that galvanized the world several years ago, UN refugee agency officials and advocates say.
Unlike Syria, the Afghan crisis escalated rapidly during a global pandemic and many face difficulties leaving the country. Those who do leave face additional waits, often in countries with little capacity to support them.
Some of the female judges, who have been living in Greece since October, told Reuters they have lacked health coverage because of their temporary visa status.
Advocates have called on countries to resettle Afghans without requiring a designation from the UNHCR or other NGOs, a step Canada has signalled it is open to.
(Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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The Taliban have misled the world with the promises that they made, and the people of Afghanistan are in deep doodoo. I'm happy that Canada is doing what they can, and I can understand that the USA has enough of a refugee problem on their hands.
correction, the usa has an anti-refugee problem, another part of the anti-everything movement...
I don't think the USA has an anti-refugee problem, but an awful lot of its lawmakers and residents (some of whom are quite vociferous about it on NT) DO have that problem.
[deleted.]
When immigration courts are tied up with illegal entry groups who do not qualify for amnesty, how are they to be able to work on refugees from elsewhere? Despite progress there is still on so many hours in a day.
why didn't the administration of the orange menace start making the necessary moves to exit afghanistan right after he shot his mouth off about it, instead of leaving an impossible logistical nightmare for his successor to complete in 3 months?
Your timeline is incorrect.
We didn't leave until August. Biden inaugurated in January.
Biden certainly declared it a successful withdrawal, not "impossible". Hmm, who to believe here?
A clueless Biden declares Afghan mission 'extraordinary success' (nypost.com)
Your logic is faulty. Perhaps he planned to take care of that right after his reelection.
And Brandon had plenty of time to do the withdrawal correctly, instead of turning it into a moral and logistical nightmare
Maybe they have a problem mouthing off about it.
What do you see as a priority, doing what is possible to curtail the virus in America, or ending a war that already lasted for 20 years against the Taliban?
How does that relate to what I wrote?
Does it HAVE to relate?
Of course not.
But it would certainly make more sense if it did.
It's a plain ordinary question asking what your priority would be. Would you prefer that I ask questions by means of a PN rather than on the Front Page?
Makes no difference to me where you ask your questions.
Personally, I prefer politicians who can do more than one thing at a time.
Don't you?
That way, we aren't reduced to having to choose when someone else may be capable of doing both.
Well, I can see that at least YOU are capable of replying to me and evading answering my question at the same time. However, I'll answer yours....Even Dan Quayle was capable of drinking a beer and watching the Superbowl at the same time.
Well, gee, some folks would have interpreted my comment:
to have meant that I didn't choose either/or, but chose BOTH ending the war AND curtailing the virus.
So no need to claim you didn't receive an answer when, in fact, you did. You chose not to recognize it, which falls on you alone.
Yes, although it's not customary on this site to do so, I usually will do the right thing and admit that you are correct. I missed that you actually did answer my question, somewhat obliquely perhaps, with this comment:
That's the rest of the post you apparently overlooked.
I really don't see where my answer to your question is not clear.
Thank you for being so fucking gracious. It that a Texan quality?
Texans Gracious? No. [deleted]
You're welcome.
For many of us, yes!
Good...
Kudos, Canada.
You've now had your chance to slander Biden. The topic of this seed is what Canada is doing to rescue Afghans. Any more comments about America or Biden will be flagged as OFF TOPIC and deleted.
(deleted)
I was mistaken. I thought I had posted this seed on one of my groups. Post your comment again.
No, I am sure you would find it too offensive, as you already did once.
It appears I'm not the only one who finds your comments on this seed offensive.
I deleted that post.
What a bizarre discussion.
LOL., I'll say.