LONDON: More than 100 charities are urging the UK prime minister to honor a government pledge to resettle thousands of family members of Afghans who fled after the Taliban takeover.
Having committed to resettling family members, the UK government failed to develop any mechanism for achieving this, with campaigners accusing the government of abandoning those Afghans it promised to reunite with their families in the UK, The Guardian reports.
Chief executive of Safe Passage International, Beth Gardiner-Smith, said: “It’s been 18 months since families were torn apart when Kabul fell.
“Afghans remain one of the top nationalities risking their lives to cross the Channel, but rather than create the safe routes that would allow them to reunite with family, the prime minister prefers to concentrate on new laws to further punish refugees.”
Along with Safe Passage and the Refugee Council, signatories to the letter sent to Rishi Sunak include Refugee Action, Choose Love, Ben and Jerry’s, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the Welsh Refugee Council, Islamic Relief and Oxfam GB.
The letter requests that the prime minister honor the commitments made to Afghan families after the decision of UK and allied forces to flee the country led to the Taliban takeover.
Highlighting that vulnerable family members — including women, girls and those from persecuted religious and minority ethnic communities — have been forced to live in hiding in Afghanistan, the letter notes that the abandonment has put these people’s lives at great risk.
Responding to the letter, a government spokesperson said: “So far, we have brought almost 23,000 vulnerable people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan relocation schemes.
“This complex situation presents significant challenges, including securing safe passage out of the country for those who want to leave — and who are eligible for resettlement in the UK.”
Some 6,300 Afghans brought to the UK under the scheme were forced to leave their families behind in Afghanistan and have been provided no information on if and when the government will allow them to reunite.
Amir, a 23-year-old photographer and young leader with Safe Passage, was evacuated from Afghanistan in August 2021, living alone in the UK without his parents or sister ever since.
He said: “I’m depressed and nervous for my family, my friends and for the women in Afghanistan, especially my mother and sister. They’re not allowed to go outside anymore. Now I’m alone and it’s really hard, and it is for them as well.”
