New! Immigration for Human Rights Defenders
Canada launches a dedicated refugee stream for human rights defenders
July 16, 2021 – Ottawa – The Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, today announced the launch of a dedicated refugee stream to provide a safe haven for human rights defenders at risk who are fleeing persecution in their home country.
Canada has a long and proud tradition of providing protection to those at risk and will become one of the first countries to offer a dedicated, permanent pathway for human rights defenders. Canada will resettle up to 250 human rights defenders per year, including their family members, through the Government-Assisted Refugees Program.
Canada will work with Front Line Defenders and ProtectDefenders.eu, alongside other Canadian and international partners, including the United Nations Refugee Agency, to identify human rights defenders who face security risks and are in need of resettlement, and to find solutions for human rights defenders in need of protection. This will include a particular focus on people at heightened risk, such as women, journalists and LGBTQ2 human rights defenders.
The work of human rights defenders is essential to promote and protect the human rights of people around the world. Too often, they put their own lives at risk to denounce injustices and hold the powerful to account. With today’s announcement, Canada is helping to provide more options to human rights defenders in need of protection so that they have a pathway to permanent residence when they cannot return home.
Quick Facts
- Human rights defenders are people who, individually or in association with others, nonviolently promote or strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national or international levels.
- Human rights defenders face persecution at the hands of both state and non-state actors, including arbitrary arrest, detention, threats, torture, enforced disappearance and assassination.
- In 2019, Canada launched new guidelines on supporting human rights defenders called “Voices at Risk.”
- As part of the 2020–2022 Immigration Levels Plan, 250 additional government-assisted refugee spaces were added, beginning in 2021, to support admissions under this stream.
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