Resettlement may be defined as the transfer of refugees from a state in which they have initially sought protection to a third state that has agreed to admit them with permanent-residence status.[36] Until the mid-1980s, resettlement was generally seen by states as the preferred durable solution. In the aftermath of the Second World War it was the primary means by which the International Refugee Organization and, later, UNHCR provided solutions for the displaced. It was used to resettle nearly 200,000 refugees following the 1956 Hungarian revolution, more than 40,000 people expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972, and 5,000 Latin American refugees facing refoulement from Augusto Pinochet's Chile in 1973. Perhaps most notably, resettlement was used to address the problem of the Vietnamese 'boat people', of whom nearly 2 million were resettled as a result of the 1989 Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA) for Indochina. Yet despite the example of the CPA, resettlement elsewhere was limited to the often-unfilled quotas of a handful of traditional resettlement states. By the 1990s, repatriation had taken centre stage.[37]

However, since the end of the CPA in 1995 there has been ongoing reflection and reassessment of the role of resettlement. Following UNHCR's 1994 Evaluation Report on Resettlement Activities, the Working Group on Resettlement was formed that same year, and shortly afterwards UNHCR's Annual Tripartite Consultations (ATC) on resettlement began. These consultations have become a forum in which resettlement countries, NGOs and UNHCR share information and develop joint strategies to address resettlement needs. Alongside the ATC, the Working Group began to reassess the role of resettlement and promote the emergence of new resettlement countries and the expansion of quotas. As a result, the global resettlement quota grew to nearly 100,000 by 2001. Among the new resettlement countries to emerge are Argentina, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Iceland, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Policy and practice in relation to resettlement have therefore undergone significant changes in recent years. The strategic use of resettlement and new operational methods such as group identification and processing are enhancing resettlement's traditional function of protection. These innovations have been consolidated within the Multilateral Framework of Understandings on Resettlement, agreed in June 2004.

The functions of resettlement

Resettlement formed a central component of the Global Consultations. In the context of a comprehensive strategy to enhance international protection, discussions on resettlement highlighted that it has three central functions. Its first – and traditional – role is as a tool of international protection for individual refugees. Second, it may serve as a durable solution. This reflects acknowledgement that resettlement can be used alongside other durable solutions as part of a comprehensive strategy to overcome protracted refugee situations. Finally, resettlement may be an expression of international solidarity. Resettlement by third states represents a commitment to a more equitable sharing of responsibility for protection with the developing countries that host the majority of the world's refugees.[38]

However, questions remain about resettlement and its relationship to the other durable solutions. On the one hand, it may be seen as a symbol of extra-regional states' willingness to share responsibility; on the other, it may represent a disincentive to repatriation by encouraging some refugees to remain in the host state hoping to be resettled.

The strategic use of resettlement

The three complementary functions of resettlement – as a protection tool, a durable solution and an expression of international burden-sharing – would indicate that it is most effective when applied as part of a comprehensive approach to international protection. Indeed, it was in the broader multilateral context of the Convention Plus initiative that the Core Group on Resettlement was created. The group drafted the Multilateral Framework of Understandings on Resettlement, building on the prior initiatives of the Working Group on Resettlement and the Global Consultations on International Protection.

In recent years more emphasis has been placed on the strategic use of resettlement. This conceives of 'the planned use of resettlement that maximizes the benefit of resettlement, either directly or indirectly, other than to those being resettled. Those benefits accrue to other refugees, the host States, other States, and the international protection regime in general'.[39] Such strategic use of resettlement acknowledges that it is likely to be most effective when applied alongside the other durable solutions in situation-specific plans of action. For example, this might apply when a small group represents a stumbling block in the way of peace negotiations or a wider repatriation agreement. Here resettlement, even of small groups, may serve as a catalyst in leveraging other solutions.

The group methodology

Aside from presenting many of the general principles underlying resettlement, the Multilateral Framework also elaborated the role of the Group Methodology, developed in 2003 to enhance the use of resettlement. Group resettlement covers not only specific vulnerable individuals, but also groups that are in protracted refugee situations. By focusing on a section of the refugee population on the basis of identity characteristics such as clan, ethnicity, age or gender, for example, it may enhance the search for durable solutions. It would benefit not only the group in question, but also those not resettled by removing a vulnerable section of the population from a given situation. Group resettlement is designed to supplement traditional resettlement activities. It does not replace the responsibility of UNHCR to identify and process individual resettlement cases based on established criteria.

Resettlement countries and other partners have welcomed the Group Methodology and participated in missions to locations where refugee populations have been identified for possible resettlement. Examples of refugee groups processed for resettlement in 2003-04 include:

• Liberians in Côte d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone resettled in the United States;
  
• Liberians in Guinea resettled in Australia and the United States;
  
• Somalis in Kenya resettled in Australia, Canada and the United States; and
  
• Ethiopians in Yemen resettled in the United States.[40]

Secondary movement

Towards a multilateral approach

Notes

36. J. van Selm, 'The Strategic Use of Resettlement', Refuge, vol. 22, no. 1, 2004, p. 40.

37. J. Milner, 'Resettlement', in M. Gibney and R. Hansen (eds), Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present, ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, 2005.

38. J. Milner, 'Recent Developments in International Resettlement Policy: Implications for the UK Programme', in V. Gelthorpe and L. Herlitz (eds), Listening to the Evidence: the Future of UK Resettlement, Home Office, London, 2003.

39. UNHCR, 'Convention Plus: Framework of Understandings on Resettlement', FORUM/CG/RES/04, www.unhcr.org, 2003.

40. UNHCR, Resettlement Handbook, UNHCR, Geneva, www.unhcr.org, 2004.