Asked by: Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to announce a third pathway under the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme; and what that pathway will include both (1) journalists still resident in Afghanistan, and (2) exiled Afghan journalists in Pakistan and Iran, at risk of persecution for their professional activities.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
On 13 June 2022, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office announced the launch Pathways 2 and 3 of the ACRS.
Under Pathway 3, in the first year, places are being offered to eligible at-risk British Council contractors, GardaWorld contractors, and Chevening alumni in Afghanistan or the region. We are pleased to have welcomed the first arrivals to the UK and look forward to welcoming all remaining individuals as soon as practicable.
Beyond this, we will work with international partners and NGOs to welcome wider groups of Afghans at risk under Pathway 3. This commitment still stands, and further details will be set out in due course.
However, it is important that we take into account the capacity of the UK to resettle people, and our immediate focus is ensuring the relocation of those already assessed as eligible.
Asked by: Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many endangered Afghan journalists have been resettled in UK to date under (1) the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme, or (2) the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy, since the withdrawal of British military forces from that country.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Statistics on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes have now also become available in the Immigration System Statistics, year ending December 2022 release.
They show that 21,387 people have now been resettled or relocated through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). This includes people identified as particularly at risk including journalists.
Whilst I am not able to provide a breakdown of this data by occupation, work continues to assure information relating to all the people resettled and relocated to the UK, under the ACRS and the ARAP, on case working systems. Once this work concludes, statistics on both schemes - including the number of people resettled under each - will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.