13/08/2008
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140 AIDS conference delegates seek refugee status
The refugees must now wait while Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board studies their applications, a process that can take months. If the board rejects a claim, an applicant can appeal the decision -- a process which can drag on for years.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Almost 140 delegates to an international AIDS conference in Toronto last month have applied for refugee status in Canada, officials said on Friday. The federal immigration ministry said it could not confirm a report in the Toronto Sun newspaper which said most of the 137 refugee seekers were women from South Africa suffering from the deadly disease. "Our visa officers were on the look-out to make sure to screen applicants for ones who might claim refugee status or try to remain in the country after the conference," said ministry spokeswoman Marina Wilson. The Sun said one applicant was Amanuel Tesfamichael from the impoverished east African country of Eritrea, who told the paper he had managed to slip away from government minders while in Toronto. "I was only allowed to leave my homeland for 10 days ... The government didn't want me to leave the country," the paper quoted him as saying. Some 24,000 delegates took part in the August 13-18 conference. The refugees must now wait while Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board studies their applications, a process that can take months. If the board rejects a claim, an applicant can appeal the decision -- a process which can drag on for years. Critics say the system of determining refugee applications is far too lax and is open to abuse. Canada is one of the few major nations still actively seeking immigrants. |
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