The new fifteen-month project, entitled “A joint IOM, UNHCR and ICMC project: Promotion of resettlement in the European Union (EU) through practical cooperation by EU Member States and other stakeholders,” is partially funded by the European Refugee Fund. It is intended to promote greater engagement of EU Member States in resettlement activities by strengthening cooperation, drawing on the benefits of a coordinated, practical approach.

Participating countries including those that have already established resettlement programmes (the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Sweden) and countries that have recently engaged in resettlement activities (Belgium, France, Portugal and Romania), as well as countries that are considering engagement in refugee resettlement within the project framework (Hungary, Poland and Slovakia).

The project will facilitate exchange and collaborative engagement in the selection and screening of refugees eligible for resettlement and in pre-departure activities, including through the Romania-based Emergency Transit Centre, and will support the identification of possible joint activities in countries of first asylum. Particularly on local levels, it will also promote capacity building on reception and integration.

“Resettlement can only be a success when refugees are well received and integrated into local communities where they can begin to rebuild their lives,” notes Hazel Williams, ICMC Resettlement Coordinator.

ICMC will play a key role in encouraging civil society participation on resettlement in the ten European countries involved in the project, and will work to engage local authorities, NGOs and service providers in the identification and sharing of good practices in integration.

As part of these efforts, meetings will be held in each of the ten participating countries to strengthen national level networking and information sharing, and a European training will be offered for local authorities and NGOs in Lisbon in June 2010. A manual will also be developed as a practical guide for local actors working to develop and/or strengthen national refugee reception and integration programmes.

European refugee resettlement: ICMC undertakes new project with IOM, UNHCR (374.59 KB)