Empty promises, shattered lives: the truth about Afghan resettlement schemes

This week in Parliament, MPs came together to discuss the urgent need for safe routes to the UK for Afghan refugees. Their message to the Minister was clear: the Government has failed to honour its commitments to bring those fleeing the Taliban to safety. This failure has stranded far too many at-risk Afghans, including unaccompanied children, in extreme danger, with no end in sight. As MPs rightfully pointed out, the situation is now becoming even more urgent, in light of Pakistan’s threat to send back Afghans who had temporarily found refuge there by the end of November.   

This is an issue that Safe Passage has been campaigning on since the fall of Kabul. Through our legal work, we have witnessed the glaring shortcomings of Afghan resettlement and family reunion schemes, bogged down by extreme delays and impossible criteria, as we highlighted in our latest briefing. As Sahib, a Safe Passage campaigner who arrived in the UK through one of these schemes puts it, Afghan schemes "have been very slow, lacking government progress and interest."

The failed promises of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP)

 In 2021, the Government launched the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) with a pledge to offer safe passage to Afghans who worked with the British Government. Over 141,000 people applied, but, so far this year, only 73 Afghans have been able to access safety under the scheme. The extensive delays have left desperate cases waiting for an initial decision for over two years, an absolute betrayal to those who risked their lives serving alongside the British forces and Government. 

Sahib, who has firsthand experience of ARAP, shared: “I can attest to the lack of visible government support for these torn-apart families. Many, like me, have served the British army and now lack access to a safe route.”

 We know from the relative success of the Ukraine schemes that when allocated sufficient resources, safe routes can work. Since the creation of the Ukraine scheme, only one person has taken a dangerous journey across the Channel. On the other hand, Afghans account for one in five of these life-threatening journeys. MPs urged the Minister for Immigration, Robert Jenrick, to address resourcing issues, pointing to a recent Freedom Of Information (FOI) request which revealed that in January this year, there were 36 times as many caseworkers processing Ukrainian applications as there were Afghan (ARAP) ones.

A disproportionate impact on vulnerable Afghans

 Afghans who are at increased risk of persecution from the Taliban, such as those from ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ individuals, continue to bear the brunt of these failures. The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), which was intended to offer safety to those at increased risk, has clearly fallen short of its original intention due to overly narrow criteria and limited annual caps.

 Shockingly, the target of 3,500 places allocated for pathways 2 and 3 for the first year of the scheme remains unmet, with a mere 107 people having been brought to safety since the evacuation. MPs urged the Minister to honour his commitment to broaden eligibility and provide vulnerable Afghans with the help they so urgently need.

Families torn apart by a dysfunctional family reunion system

Several heartbreaking cases were raised by MPs, with constituents who have been separated from their families and still have no way to bring their loved ones to safety. At Safe Passage, we hear those stories every day.

One of the families we support is that of Rashid* and his four young nieces and nephews, as young as 7. Separated from their mother during the evacuation, the children have endured the anguish of living in temporary UK accommodation, unable to hold their parents, for over two years – causing severe harm to their mental health.

“Many families have been separated, with children in the UK and parents in Afghanistan, or parents in the UK and their sons in Afghanistan… As a Safe Passage grassroots campaigner, I've dedicated my efforts to family reunion, and I urge the government to take the situation seriously.”

– Sahib, Afghan grassroot campaigner

Despite Safe Passage and other campaigners’ efforts to bring this issue to the Government’s attention for the past year, families separated in the evacuation are still being told they have to wait for ‘further information’ from the Government about how to access a safe route. Whilst it was devastating to hear from the Minister that these families must wait even longer, the Minister finally committed to starting referrals at the start of next year.

But time is running out to protect the lives of at-risk Afghans and prevent more tragedies in the Channel. This is why we are calling on the Government to quickly process applications, widen the scope of existing schemes and fix family reunion. We are also campaigning for “Routes To Safety” to be urgently established for all those who, like Afghan refugees, are forced to make dangerous journeys. Over the next few months, we will keep bringing these critical recommendations to MPs and Government ministers, to ensure that past promises are finally fulfilled.

To learn more about our work with Afghan refugees, read our recent Afghan Pro Bono Initiative’s new report, ‘Two years of empty promises: the UK leaves Afghans stranded and at risk’.