London, UK, August 24, 2023 — Commenting on the Government’s immigration system statistics for the year ending June 2023, Laura Kyrke-Smith, Executive Director of the International Rescue Committee UK, says:
“These statistics reveal the shocking reality of the Government’s failure to provide protection for vulnerable Afghans, with just 233 Afghans brought to the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) over the past year.
In pushing forward the Illegal Migration Act, the Government time and time again assured concerned Parliamentarians and the British public that there existed “safe routes” for refugees from countries like Afghanistan. These statistics show that these routes simply aren’t matching the scale of the need. Instead, the majority of the almost 10,000 Afghans seeking safety in the UK were forced to make dangerous journeys across the Channel.
The Government must urgently deliver on its commitments to eligible Afghans waiting to find safety in the UK. Firstly, the ACRS must be expanded to honour the original pledge of 20,000 places. Secondly, it must be properly resourced to accelerate delivery, and finally, it must be partnered with a clear process for reuniting Afghan families with loved ones already in the UK. The small boats won’t stop while the rhetoric of safe routes isn’t matched by reality.”
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Note to Editor: Over a quarter of the promised 20,000 resettlement places were allocated during the initial evacuations. Around 13,500 places have been left for the remaining two pathways under ACRS. Both ACRS 2 and ACRS 3 were launched in June 2022. ACRS 3 was to offer 1,500 places in the first stage. One year on, only 66 have been brought to the UK via ACRS 2 and 44 on pathway 3.