Joint EU resettlement programme proposal expected this week
Briefing Notes, 1 September 2009
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 1 September 2009, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Tomorrow (2 September) the European Commission (EC) is expected to put forward a proposal which promotes EU financial support for resettlement to the EU. It will also establish steps for practical cooperation among EU Member States in the area of resettlement. Participation of the States is expected to be on a voluntary basis.
UNHCR welcomes the establishment of an EU Resettlement Programme and hopes it will result in additional resettlement places beyond the number currently provided by EU Member States. It is also hoped that the programme will strengthen integration support for refugees already resettled across the EU. UNHCR is looking forward to working closely with the European Commission and EU Member States on resettlement.
The number of EU countries engaged in resettlement and the numbers of refugees resettled in the EU remains low but is slowly rising. At present, ten EU Member States are involved in resettlement. In 2008 EU countries resettled just over 4,378 refugees. By comparison, over 60,000 refugees were resettled to the United States. A Joint EU Resettlement Programme will be a welcome development for the many refugees that need resettlement. It will show the EU's solidarity with countries in the developing world that host large numbers of refugees.
A relevant handbook on the reception and integration of resettled refugees.
A repository for exchanging ideas on resettlement partnerships, June 2011.
An alternative for those who cannot go home, made possible by UNHCR and governments.
July 2011 edition of the UNHCR Resettlement Handbook.
July-December 2011. Also available in Spanish on Refworld.
Results from UNHCR's research project on the application of key provisions of the Asylum Procedures Directive in selected European Union Member States, March 2010.
Detailed comparative analysis on the application of key provisions of the Asylum Procedures Directive in selected Member States, March 2010.
Summary of main points, Brussels, 24 February 2011
Brussels, 6 December 2007
Introductory remarks by Volker Türk at the Ministerial Conference, Brussels, September 2010.
Updated UNHCR observations on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/109/EC establishing a long-term residence status to extend its scope to beneficiaries of international protection, August 2010.
UNHCR comments on the European Commission's proposal for a recast of the directive laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum-seekers.
UNHCR comments on the European Commission's proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection and the content of the protection granted, July 2010
UNHCR comments on the European Commission's proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on minimum standards on procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing international protection, August 2010
EU law and practice affects creation of refugee protection mechanisms in other countries.
Related Internet Links
UNHCR is not responsible for the content and availability of external internet sites
A Place to Call Home(Part 2): 1996 - 2003
This gallery highlights the history of UNHCR's efforts to help some of the world's most disenfranchised people to find a place called home, whether through repatriation, resettlement or local integration.
After decades of hospitality after World War II, as the global political climate changed and the number of people cared for by UNHCR swelled from around one million in 1951, to more than 27 million people in the mid-1990s, the welcome mat for refugees was largely withdrawn.
Voluntary repatriation has become both the preferred and only practical solution for today's refugees. In fact, the great majority of them choose to return to their former homes, though for those who cannot do so for various reasons, resettlement in countries like the United States and Australia, and local integration within regions where they first sought asylum, remain important options.
This gallery sees Rwandans returning home after the 1994 genocide; returnees to Kosovo receiving reintegration assistance; Guatemalans obtaining land titles in Mexico; and Afghans flocking home in 2003 after decades in exile.
A Place to Call Home(Part 2): 1996 - 2003
Drifting Towards Italy
Every year, Europe's favourite summer playground - the Mediterranean Sea - turns into a graveyard as hundreds of men, women and children drown in a desperate bid to reach European Union (EU) countries.
The Italian island of Lampedusa is just 290 kilometres off the coast of Libya. In 2006, some 18,000 people crossed this perilous stretch of sea - mostly on inflatable dinghies fitted with an outboard engine. Some were seeking employment, others wanted to reunite with family members and still others were fleeing persecution, conflict or indiscriminate violence and had no choice but to leave through irregular routes in their search for safety.
Of those who made it to Lampedusa, some 6,000 claimed asylum. And nearly half of these were recognized as refugees or granted some form of protection by the Italian authorities.
In August 2007, the authorities in Lampedusa opened a new reception centre to ensure that people arriving by boat or rescued at sea are received in a dignified way and are provided with adequate accommodation and medical facilities.
Drifting Towards Italy
Out of Harm's Way in Romania
Peaceful days and a safe environment is probably more than these Palestinian and Sudanese refugees expected when they were stuck in a desert camp in Iraq. Now they are recovering at a special transit centre in the Romanian city of Timisoara while their applications for resettlement in a third country are processed.
Most people forced to flee their homes are escaping from violence or persecution, but some find themselves still in danger after arriving at their destination. UNHCR uses the centre in Romania to bring such people out of harm's way until they can be resettled.
The Emergency Transit Centre (ETC) in Timisoara was opened in 2008. Another one will be formally opened in Humenné, Slovakia, within the coming weeks. The ETC provides shelter and respite for up to six months, during which time the evacuees can prepare for a new life overseas. They can attend language courses and cultural orientation classes.
Out of Harm's Way in Romania
A new life for refugees from Bhutan
They fled to Nepal from Bhutan amid ethnic tensions in the early 1990s. Now, many of the slightly more than 100,000 refugees have been offered the possibility of resettlement to another country.
| 
| 
| 
