To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to support people from religious minorities in Afghanistan to access a safe passage out of that country.
Answered on
8 December 2021
We are monitoring the situation for religious minorities closely. We have made human rights, including rights of minorities, a central feature of our political engagement with the Taliban to date, including the visit to Kabul on 5 October by the Prime Minister's High Representative for Afghanistan Transition, Sir Simon Gass. On 7 October, the UK supported a Human Rights Council resolution that created a Special Rapporteur mandate to monitor human rights in the country. We have also announced the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), which in its first year will welcome up to 5,000 vulnerable Afghans to the UK who have been forced to flee the country, with up to a total of 20,000 over the coming years. ACRS will provide protection for Afghan citizens at risk, including members of minority groups.