The United Reformed Church (URC) has joined Together with Refugees and over 100 organisations in an open letter calling on the UK government to fulfil its promise towards Afghans who have safely evacuated and provide safe routes for those at risk in Afghanistan. A year since Kabul fell to the Taleban, thousands of families who were safely evacuated are still living in hotels unable to rebuild their lives, and many Afghans at risk are making perilous journeys due to the promised safe routes being “slow and restrictive”, the letter stated. It also referred to the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), remarking the number of those seeking evacuation have greatly outnumbered those who have been resettled.
Simeon Mitchell, URC Secretary for Church and Society and Interim Team Leader of the Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT), said: “Churches and community groups have been reaching out to Afghan families in hotels, offering all sorts of provision and kindness – embodying the posture of welcome that the Bible demands of God’s people. But the government needs to urgently do more, both to help Afghans already here and to enable others at risk to get to the UK safely.”