The UK government faces a legal challenge after it closed its relocation scheme for vulnerable Afghans in July.
The Afghanistan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), which was launched after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, offers asylum to Afghans who worked with British forces after the invasion in 2001, and who are now at risk of reprisals from the ruling Taliban.
But on July 1, the Home Office announced the scheme’s sudden closure, just as it emerged that the names of more than 18,000 applicants had been exposed in a major data breach in 2022.
The London-based Afghanistan and Central Asia Association (ACAA) said it had begun preliminary legal proceedings against the government on Tuesday. It had previously written to the Home Office asking for the closure to be overturned and received a response from the government.
It will seek to challenge and overturn the decision to close Arap through judicial review proceedings in the High Court, and will be represented by the prominent barrister George Molyneaux.
The decision has left the large community of Afghans who worked with UK forces feeling “abandoned, ignored and extremely vulnerable”, according to Darius Nasimi, head of funding and partnerships at ACAA.
“The UK Government made a commitment to protect the Afghans it worked alongside in Afghanistan – it had a moral imperative to do so – and yet the resettlement schemes which it set up in the wake of its withdrawal have been woefully inadequate,” he said.
The charity, headquartered in West London, has been receiving more than a hundred emails a week from stranded Afghans since the decision to close the scheme was announced.
“Now that it's closed, people don't have any hope. Some people will go to Iran and Pakistan, and some will try to get to Europe from there,” he told The National.
The government kept the data breach a secret to prevent it from coming to the Taliban’s attention, and then launched the Afghan Response Route last year to relocate those deemed at highest risk from the leak. Just under 3,000 applicants and their families were relocated through the route.
About 34,000 Afghans had been relocated to the UK under the Arap scheme, according to the UK government. Among these, 3,000 principal applicants and their families were relocated under the secret Afghan Response Route which was launched last year to relocate those deemed at highest risk from the data breach.
But the Ministry of Defence assessed that about 80,000 Afghans who were at increased risk from the data breach – but not at the highest risk – were excluded from relocation, court documents show.
Mr Nasimi also raised concerns about the government’s decision to close the scheme just before the data breach was made public, which cut out tens of thousands of Afghans whose lives were further imperilled by the leak.
“To close Arap just before a mammoth data breach was brought to the public’s attention was an appalling decision – and we are determined to hold the Government to account.
“Arap has been beset with procedural and security failings, as successive court cases have shown. The Government argues that Arap has served its purpose, but there is clearly far more work to be done.”
Solicitor Jamie Bell described the Arap scheme as a “lifeline”.
Despite its deep flaws, the Arap scheme was a lifeline for thousands of vulnerable Afghans who risked their lives by working alongside the UK Government in Afghanistan,” he said.
“Its abrupt closure has left these individuals with no safe and legal routes to the UK. We urge the UK Government to reconsider this decision and permit those in need to apply for the scheme.
“We also encourage people who have been affected by the closure of Arap and the data breach to reach out to us.”
