Question Period Note: Human Rights Defenders

Refugee stream for at-risk human rights defenders.

• Canada has a proud and long-standing tradition of providing protection to those most at risk.
• The work of human rights defenders is essential to promote and protect fundamental freedoms and rights of people around the world, often at great risk to themselves and their families.
• As more defenders come under threat and are unable to return to their country, Canada continues to step up. We have doubled the number of dedicated spaces and resettling up to 500 defenders and their families each year through the Government-Assisted Refugees program.
• In addition to this global annual commitment, we expanded the number of spaces available to human rights defenders through our Afghanistan commitments.
• We are working closely with experts on international protection, including in civil society, to identify and reach the defenders most in need of Canada’s protection.

HRD Global Stream

• Human rights defenders are people who protect or promote human rights, including human rights advocates, activists, journalists, scholars, LGBTQI+ rights defenders, and humanitarian workers. For their work, they can face persecution, including judicial harassment, arbitrary arrest, intimidation, violence, torture and assassination.

• In July 2021, the Government of Canada announced a new dedicated refugee stream for human rights defenders, fulfilling a 2019 mandate commitment. 250 government-assisted refugee spaces were added annually to the Multi-Year Immigration Levels Plan, beginning in 2021.

• A subsequent mandate letter in 2021 committed to the expansion of the human rights defenders stream and to working with civil society groups to provide resettlement opportunities for people under threat. This commitment was met in 2023, when the stream was expanded to up to 500 persons annually.

• In addition, in 2023, direct referral partnerships were established with civil society’s foremost leaders on human rights defender protection: Front Line Defenders and ProtectDefenders. These two organizations, along with the UNHCR, will be responsible for referring cases under the HRD stream.

• This global stream, for human rights defenders of any nationality, is distinct from the specific initiative for human rights defenders who are Afghan nationals (see below).

• In designing and implementing the global human rights defender stream, the Department consulted extensively with a wide variety of organizations and experts on the protection of human rights defenders. Nearly 30 organizations were engaged.

• The expert input of all organizations consulted has been critical in ensuring that the global stream best meets the needs of refugee human rights defenders. In line with their recommendations, this stream:
o Is additional to existing refugee resettlement commitments;
o Allows civil society experts on human rights defenders to identify those most in need of resettlement;
o Provides human rights defender organizations in Canada and globally with an opportunity to collaborate to ensure that this stream reaches those most at risk;
o Provides resettled human rights defenders with comprehensive settlement supports;
o Is available to all human rights defenders, regardless of their occupation;
o Principally takes into account the needs of human rights defenders facing intersectional risks, including women, LGBTQI+, environmental, land, and Indigenous defenders.

• In 2019, Global Affairs Canada launched guidelines on supporting human rights defenders called “Voices at Risk”, which set out actions that Canada can take abroad. The human rights defenders stream complements the guidelines by adding a refugee protection pathway for human rights defenders at risk, who have fled from their country and cannot return.

• As government-assisted refugees, resettled human rights defenders become permanent residents upon arrival in Canada, and will benefit from comprehensive government-funded settlement supports.

HRD Afghanistan Commitment

• As part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to welcome Afghan refugees to Canada, the Government announced a special humanitarian program to resettle vulnerable Afghan nationals outside of Afghanistan. This includes persons who are part of one of the following groups: women leaders, human rights defenders, persecuted religious or ethnic minorities, LGBTQI+ individuals, and journalists and those who helped Canadian journalists. Expert human rights defender protection organizations are working with broad civil society networks to identify the human rights defenders, who are the most in need for referral for resettlement to Canada, under this commitment.

• Under the Afghanistan humanitarian measures, 900 spaces have been dedicated to human rights defenders. This figure was released publicly on August 27, 2022, when the related public policy was posted, although IRCC has not made an announcement regarding these human rights defender-specific measures, or its work with civil society experts in their implementation. IRCC has received and is finalizing the processing of applications from these partners and is coordinating travel to Canada for approved human rights defenders. As of August 2023, IRCC has received all 900 Afghan human rights defender applications (in persons) and is processing them and coordinating travel to Canada, in close collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). As of August 16 2023, approximately 675 Afghan human rights defenders referred by Front Line Defenders and Protect Defenders have arrived in Canada. Some of the resettled human rights defenders have worked to document and prevent human rights violations; others have been involved in advocating to protect and promote human rights. One group referred by Front Line Defenders, the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, has released a documentary chronicling their journey from Afghanistan to Edmonton.

None