The St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) and Caritas Shrewsbury are among the Christian organisations backing a letter to the prime minister Rishi Sunak about the government’s failure to deliver on promises made to reunite Afghan families who were evacuated to the UK.
Safe Passage coordinated the delivery of the letter to Number 10 on 17 January.
The letter had over 100 signatures from Afghan activists and refugee organisations.
In it, they highlighted that nearly 18-months after British military operations to evacuate eligible Afghans from Afghanistan, following the 2021 Taliban takeover, family members remain left behind in a country plagued by allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law.
The 6,300 Afghans brought to the UK under the scheme, but who had to leave their families behind in Afghanistan, fear their loved ones are in grave danger. They do not know if and when the government will allow them to reunite.
Two schemes to reunite Afghan evacuees with their families – the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), and the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) – were designed to help them settle and integrate into UK society.
However, the signatories on the letter, including SVP CEO Elizabeth Palmer, are asking for the prime minister to recommit to reuniting families separated during the evacuations as the government promised.
They state: “The Ukraine Family Scheme shows that the government can help families reunite at pace. Today, just as the government rightly responded to save Ukrainian lives, we ask that the government acts with the same urgency to bring Afghan families to safety.”
When Kabul fell to the Taliban and many people desperately tried to flee the country, the UK government promised that those who left would be resettled in the UK, to be joined at a later stage with loved ones remaining. This pledge has not yet been fulfilled.
The SVP is working to help Afghans now living in the UK with projects such as The Good Shepherd Conference in Telford and Shrewsbury. They have supported more than 200 Afghan people stuck in hotels after fleeing their own country, and some of these have since been resettled in permanent homes.
Advocacy work with politicians is another priority, such as arranging meetings with local MPs to ask for their help resettling and reuniting families.
Evidence is assembled from parish-based volunteers to highlight the injustice Afghans currently face in the UK. It is then submitted to the government, along with a call for an urgent review of the resettlement scheme and for all at risk to be equipped with the protection and security they need and deserve.
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