Closing the front door on refugees : Report on the first year of the Safe Third Country Agreement

CANADIAN COUNCIL FOR REFUGEES CLOSING THE FRONT DOOR ON REFUGEES REPORT ON THE FIRST YEAR OF THE SAFE THIRD COUNTRY AGREEMENT December 2005 The Canadian Council for Refugees is a non-profit umbrella organization committed to the rights and protection of refugees in Canada and around the world and to the settlement of refugees and immigrants in Canada. [...] The Agreement was strenuously opposed by refugee advocates on both sides of the border, who challenged the contention that the US is always a safe country for refugees, denounced the purpose and effect of reducing the number of refugees who can seek Canada’s protection and predicted that the Agreement would lead to an increase in smuggling and irregular crossing at the border. [...] The Canadian government is achieving its goal of significantly reducing the number of refugee claimants arriving in Canada, leading us to ask: “How few claimants is few enough for the government of Canada?” The effect of interdiction is to render the human rights violations suffered by asylum seekers invisible in the country of intended asylum, since they never arrive. [...] Although the US and Canadian governments expressed their commitment to enhancing the international protection of refugees through the Agreement, there has in fact been little indication that the governments have monitored the ways in which the Agreement affects the rights of refugees. [...] The table also highlights the extent of the drop in the number of claims since the advent of safe third country.