Toronto charity helps airlift group of LGBTQ people out of Afghanistan

A Toronto-based charity has played a key role in helping a group ofLGBTQAfghans escapethe Talibanafter a months-long, cross-continental campaign to get them out ofKabul.

After receivinghundreds of requests for helpfrom Afghans fearing for their safety, Rainbow Railroad, a groupthat helps LGBTQpeople escape persecution, has worked with a Britishcharity called Stonewallto help airlift members of the community to the U.K.

The first group of29 peopleboarded a military flight Friday bound for an undisclosed location in the U.K., the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office announced.

"Rainbow Railroad's hope is that they will be the first of hundreds more arriving in the U.K. through this scheme, and that other governments, notably the American and Canadian governments, will partner with us on similar operations," said Eric Wright,the Canadian charity's communications officer,in a news releaseon Friday.

After the group quarantines in a hotel, they will then be resettled in Britain.

Wright saidsome of the 29 arestudents and others aredefenders of LGBTQ rights in Afghanistan, making them targets forthe Taliban.

Homosexuality is criminalized under Afghan law, with offenders facing imprisonment or a maximum penalty of death. A 2020 report from the U.S. Department of State on human rights in Afghanistan found that LGBTQpeople faceddiscrimination in employment and health-care, and they are also vulnerable tobeatings andsexual assaultby security forces.

'Living in fear for their lives'

The campaign involved"months of partnership development, and direct advocacy to the U.K. government at the highest levels", Wrightsaid, including an urgentletter sent to U.K. Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab and Prime Minister Boris Johnsonon Aug. 27, just days before the evacuation efforts from Kabul ended.The last U.S. plane leftHamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 30.

The letter, jointly signed by Stonewall chief executive Nancy Kelley and Rainbow Railroad executive director KimahliPowell, requested urgent help to airliftLGBTQAfghans, who were "at extreme risk of torture and death at the hands of the Taliban and already living in fear for their lives."

The two charities complied a list of 200 peoplewho were in easy distance of Kabul's airport, hoping to airlift"as many people on this list as possible"before the airlift efforts ended. However, the U.K. pulled out of Afghanistanthe following day.

The list of people awaiting evacuation has grown since then, and while the spokesman couldn't give a specific figure, he said "hundreds" were still awaiting evacuation.

Rainbow Railroad says it has received more than 700 requests for help from LGBTQ people in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over. The group says that's more than a quarter of the number of requests for help that come in each year from all over the world. As a result, the group has hired extra staff specifically to triage Afghanistan cases.

Charity calls on Canada to step in

Only 29 people could beairlifted at one timebecause of the the operation andthe extreme security risks that arise with the movementof people across borders, Wrightsaid, as well as the Taliban actively pursuing LGBTQ people, their limited mobility due to fear of violence and the lack of help from other governments, other than the U.K.

Wright called on the Canadian government to step in to helpso LGBTQ people could also be resettled in Canada.

"The former Minister of Immigration has been tweeting about this since the beginning, but we need more than this. We need Canadian moral and humanitarian leadership on this file."

As the final Canadian evacuation flight left Kabul on Aug. 26, former Minister of Immigration Marco Mendicino tweeted his intention to help grant safe passage to Afghan refugees, such aspeople from the LGBTQ community, to enter Canada.

"Our evacuation is ending, but our commitment to the people of Afghanistan is as strong as ever. In the next months, we'll welcome thousands of vulnerable Afghan refugees forced to flee to other countries focusing on women, religious minorities, LGBTQ folks and others," Mendicino's tweet said.

In total, Canada airliftedmore than3,700 people from Afghanistan.

The initial group of 29 will now be supported by Stonewalland other LGBTQ charities to begintheir new lives in the U.K.

MoreLGBTQ Afghansare expected to arrive in the U.K. in the coming months.

In a statement issued by the U.K. Foreign Office Friday, Rainbow Railroad executive director KimahliPowell said: "This is just the beginning of our efforts to help hundreds of LGBTQI+ individuals we are supporting in Afghanistan relocate to safety."