REFUGEES continue to try to flee Afghanistan amid reports of targeted killings by the Taliban for those Afghans who worked with US and British forces over the past 20 years.
As the crisis worsens, the Westminster government has announced that initially only 5000 refugees will be allowed to come to the UK to escape scenes that one Scots lawyer says is similar to National Archive images of Belgians escaping German occupation during the First World War.
One striking difference says immigration lawyer Usman Aslam is that while the Tories try to convince people they’re acting by allowing 5000 Afghans to come to the UK, Glasgow alone took in around 20,000 Belgian refugees during the First World War.
“Alongside this shocking analogy, the public also need to know that today, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon (about an eighth of the size of Scotland) each take in millions of refugees, and millions of them are Afghans,” he said. “Frankly speaking, 5000 for the whole of the UK is in my opinion, an embarrassing figure.
“What is interesting is that the Home Office have deleted their own country policy on Afghanistan, a document containing compilations of extracts from a wide range of sources on a particular country that is usually relied upon by decision makers. It is hoped this has happened because it clearly needs updating in light of the current horrific circumstances.”
Aslam said the current policy indicated the Afghan capital Kabul was “safe” and people could move around the whole country, apart from Taliban-controlled areas. However, it now appears the Taliban control many parts of the country, including the capital. He said notwithstanding the country policy document, the law states that if cogent reasons can be shown, exceptions can be made, and he says the evidence is “crystal clear” that the risks in Afghanistan are high.
“The other odd matter is that on the one hand, the Tories are trying to bring this small number of refugees here, clearly accepting the risks that they face in their homeland,” says Aslam.
“However, if the same people arrived on their own, in the normal way that refugees have to, the new Nationality and Borders Bill will criminalise them for doing so.”
If the Tories are trying to sell their “legal and safe routes” to come to the UK, Aslam says they must urgently address the family reunion rules, or Afghan refugees will have to go through a “very bureaucratic and painful process” to eventually be reunited with family.
Unless it is a spouse or children under 18, they will make an application, which in his experience, will be refused with “inadequate reasons”.
“They will then enter an appeal process which can take anything up to a year to be heard in court,” says Aslam (below).
“It is also a process (that I am still in the process of addressing through MPs) that urgently requires to be revised as to the fees, as well as the legal test being applied to such applications.
“The National over the years has reported on multiple family reunion cases I have done and despite being successful in the end, took up to two years to resolve. The Taliban are executing people as we speak so time really is of the essence.”
Gary Christie, head of policy, communications and communities, at the Scottish Refugee Council said the resettlement programme must only be a first step.
He added: “We need to see the UK Government expanding the restrictive parameters around family reunion to allow more parents, spouses and children to be reunited and brought to safety ... The asylum process is the most common route to safety by far. But if the Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill passes through parliament, no person from Afghanistan who reaches the UK off their own back will be eligible for asylum, or be eligible for family reunion.”
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