Peterborough’s refugee resettlement target has nearly doubled, from 75 to 144 people per year, according to the New Canadians Centre.

Afghans hoping to emigrate to Germany will face tougher security screening after suspected Islamist extremists applied for visas. A scheme to bring vulnerable Afghans to safety from the Taliban was suspended in March over security fears. German officials say they are working “at full speed” to resume visa applications but only once new checks are in place.

Mawlavi Abdullah Ryaz, the provincial head of Refugees and Repatriation of Nimroz province told Bakhtar news agency that at least 74,360 people including 1,106 families and 69,259 individuals have returned to the country from Iran over the past couple of weeks.

The suspension of the transfers and processing of German visas for those accepted by the German Government has cut a lifeline to Afghans at risk. Once again, Afghans find themselves let down by the international community, abandoned in fear and limbo.

Amnesty International released a report last week presenting evidence of Taliban war crimes in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province, the base of operations for opposition forces belonging to the National Resistance Front. The nongovernmental organization has put forward horrifying proof of “torture and other ill-treatment, extrajudicial executions, hostage-taking, the intentional burning of civilian homes, and arbitrary deprivation of liberty,” finding that the Taliban’s “conduct in sum constitutes collective punishment, which is in itself a war crime.”

We are gravely concerned about the dire situation faced by lawyers in Afghanistan and take this occasion to stress our broad concerns about the human rights abuses resulting from the dismantling of the independent legal system, and its replacement with a de facto system that flagrantly violates international standards.