Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser arrives at a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Dec.15, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – LGBTQ refugee group Rainbow Railroad has only been able to resettle four per cent of the nearly 3,800 Afghans who have asked for help since the Taliban took over their country.
The Toronto-based group says in a new report that gender and sexual minorities are facing persecution and Ottawa’s resettlement programs don’t account for those who can’t safely flee Afghanistan to neighbouring countries.
The group is calling on Immigration Minister Sean Fraser to streamline the way the department assesses requests for help from minority groups, and to make it easier for people to seek resettlement in Canada.
Rainbow Railroad says it received just 144 requests for help in the four-year period leading up to the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
Since then, 3,797 people have asked the group for help – but just 180 have reached Canada.
Human-rights groups have documented a rise in physical assaults, sexual violence and systemic targeting of LGBTQ people in Afghanistan.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2022.
