Société
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Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced here Thursday that eight countries have been added to a list of 27 other so-called safe nations that normally do not produce refugees and whose citizens will have their asylum claims expedited for processing.
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Mexico, Japan, Norway, Iceland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland and Israel (excluding Gaza and the West Bank) are the latest Designated Countries of Origin (DCOs), which under Canadian legislation that came into effect last December, are also considered to be democratic, offer state protection to citizens, and have active human rights and civil society organizations.
The DCO model is a key feature of Canada's new asylum system designed to provide "protection more quickly to genuine refugees, while removing individuals, whose claims are rejected, from the country faster," Kenney said in a statement.
Citizens from DCOs will have their asylum claims heard by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) -- an independent, quasi-judicial body -- within 30 to 45 days, or faster than people from non-designated countries who would receive a hearing within 60 days.
However, failed claimants from designated countries will not have access to the IRB's newly created Refugee Appeal Division, but will still be able to request Canada's Federal Court review a negative decision.
To appear on Canada's DCO list, a country must generate 30 or more asylum claims in any consecutive 12-month period during the three years preceding designation, and are assessed according to certain criteria: at least 60 percent of claimants from the country must have withdrawn and abandoned their own claims, or at least 75 percent of claims from a country have been withdrawn, abandoned and rejected by the IRB.
For countries with low numbers of asylum claims, the Canadian government relies on such "objective qualitative criteria" as the existence of an independent judicial system, recognition of basic democratic rights and freedoms, and the existence of civil society organizations.
While critics have accused Ottawa of recklessly singling out citizens from certain countries who may have legitimate asylum claims, Kenney has defended the new system as falling in line with the thinking of Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who said in Ottawa nearly three years ago, that "there are indeed countries in which there is a presumption that refugee claims will probably be not as strong as in other countries."
According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium and Finland are among other countries that use a similar system to Canada's in accelerating asylum procedures for nationals of countries not known to produce refugees.
The new eight DCOs join 25 European Union nations, as well as the United States and Croatia.
Canada's new asylum system falls under a new law enacted last year to overhaul the country's immigration system, which the federal government expects will save 1.6 billion Canadian dollars (about 1.59 billion U.S. dollars) over five years in social assistance and education costs.
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