Structured resettlement is a choice for people and for progress, and a choice that will give Europe more. Read on Medium.
- The UN estimates that 1.19 million people, can't build a life in the countries to which they first fled. They have no chance of returning home, they cannot work, they cannot send their children to school and they cannot get medical treatment. Their only option is to be resettled to a third country.
- In 2014, EU member states resettled just 8,579 refugees. In 2017 there will be 1.19 million refugees in need of resettlement.
- The IRC calculates that the EU should resettle at least 108,000 refugees each year over the next five years, at a minimum.
- The EU’s resettlement framework is about to go through the Parliament and Council. It must be ambitious enough to make a real difference for refugees and for Europe.
More lives saved
Because with resettlement as an option, fewer vulnerable refugees will be forced to take dangerous routes to Europe.
Since the beginning of 2015, almost 7,000 people have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean in search of protection. The death toll continues to rise.
If enough resettlement places become available, refugees will be deterred from taking these dangerous journeys and apply for resettlement instead.
More economic growth
Because refugees who are resettled are helped to find work, to start their own businesses and to lay down roots.
Once integrated into the labour market, refugees become net contributors to the economy. The IMF predicts that the EU’s GDP will be 0.25% higher by 2020 as a result of the refugee arrivals to the EU in 2015, and between 0.5% and 1% higher in Germany and Sweden, where most of the refugees have settled. And Europe needs the labour. The same IMF report finds that over half of Europe’s population will be retired or children under working age by 2050.
Find out why resettlement makes us more
Read the IRC's case for structured resettlement on Medium.