Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham yesterday confirmed that senior politicians were in talks about the move, as the UK’s Afghan ambassador warned that people had ‘days, not weeks’ to leave the state which has been retaken by the Taliban.
When asked yesterday whether Jersey would take any refugees, Senator Farnham said: ‘It is something that is being considered and we are monitoring the situation very closely.
‘We are speaking to our UK counterparts and ultimately discussing how help might be provided.’
In a statement, the Government of Jersey added: ‘Discussions are under way within the Government of Jersey to determine how the Island could respond to the situation in Afghanistan.’
The UK government has said that around 5,000 former Afghan British Forces staff are likely to be eligible for resettlement by the end of this year, with 5,000 civilians being able to move within the next 12 months. The remaining 10,000 could be allowed to settle in the UK over the coming years.
It is not the first time that Jersey has considered rehoming refugees.
In 2015, the then Chief Minister Ian Gorst said he and his Guernsey counterpart had discussed the possibility of the islands welcoming a small number of Syrian refugees.
A few months later, Senator Gorst revealed that the government would not progress this idea as, if they made special provisions for Syrians, they would legally have to treat refugees from all other nations on the same grounds or risk breaching human-rights laws. The UK allowed 20,319 Syrian refugees to settle in Britain.
The JEP yesterday attempted to contact Senator Gorst, who is now the External Relations Minister, but he was not available.
Reform Jersey party leader Senator Sam Mézec pointed out that Islanders had fled Jersey before the Occupation and that it would be ‘noble’ if Jersey could take in refugees.
‘Given the awful scenes we are seeing in Afghanistan, many will want to see Jersey play its part in supporting refugees, by being a part of the UK’s refugee schemes when appropriate.
‘However, in the past when we have looked at responding to refugee crises, there have been legal issues with our housing qualification and benefits systems that have prevented us from joining previous efforts to offer that support,’ he said.
‘If we could find a way to overcome that, and Jersey was able to provide relief to Afghan refugees, I think that would be a very noble thing, especially given our history as an island where thousands of people effectively became refugees when they were evacuated during the Occupation,’ he added.
Party colleague Deputy Geoff Southern, making reference to the past bureaucratic complexities of housing refugees in Jersey, said he was sceptical about whether the Island was capable of helping.
‘In theory we could do but there are some issues,’ he said. ‘I am not that enthusiastic about doing it now. It is for the UK government to solve its problems and show its generosity and not for our government, although they could do.
‘We have tried this before [with Syria] and the answer the government came up with was “we cannot really do this” and the practical nature of what you need and having the right system in place is not that obvious.’
