Send this message to your MP:
We have all looked on in horror at the seizure of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Whatever view you take on the history of Britain’s involvement in the country and region, it is clear we have a huge moral and political responsibility to all Afghans at risk of violence and repression.
The UK government must act now. I am writing to you as my MP to do all in your power to stand in solidarity with all Afghan people including women, LGBT+ groups, political dissidents and minorities.
We need a bold, sweeping and ambitious commitment to provide humanitarian protection for Afghan refugees. Time is of the essence and delay will put countless lives at risk.
Will you lobby and campaign for the UK government to take several simple steps?
• Immediately suspend all deportations of Afghans from the UK and release any Afghans in immigration detention facilities into the community.
• Recognise the scale of the emergency and our moral responsibility. Commit now to resettling a minimum of 100,000 refugees from Afghanistan over the next 6 to 12 months. In addition, Afghans that make it to the UK by their own means must have their asylum applications expedited through a fast track process. Those whose applications are currently under consideration should be entered immediately into this system.
• Work with international partners through the United Nations to create legal and safe routes for those fleeing Afghanistan as part of a coordinated international resettlement programme.
• Suspend the passage of the Nationality and Borders Bill which would put us in clear breach of our international legal obligations to refugees. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has said strongly and publicly that the legislation “will undermine the 1951 Convention and international protection system, not just in the UK, but globally.”1 The introduction of a two-tier system for refugee protection2 should be abandoned.
We hope you understand the urgency of this situation and will act now.
Background links
1 https://www.unhcr.org/uk/60950ed64/unhcr-observations-on-the-new-plan-for-immigration-uk
2 https://www.jcwi.org.uk/briefing-the-afghanistan-crisis-and-refugee-rights