March 17, 2016 — As European leaders meet in Brussels, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) calls for the EU to resettle 108,000 refugees per year - at least 540,000 refugees over the next five years – as a ‘fair and achievable’ commitment as the global refugee crisis worsens.
The figure represents a quarter of global resettlement needs, plus half of the Syrian refugees in urgent need of resettlement, according to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates.
The commitment to long-term resettlement must come hand-in-hand with follow-through on proposed measures to relocate 160,000 refugees currently trapped in Greece and Italy to elsewhere in the EU. Any relocation and resettlement agreements must be based on humanitarian need and not political necessity.
President and CEO of the IRC, David Miliband said: “Refugees face impossible choices but European leaders do not. The proposed EU-Turkey deal won’t work. A comprehensive resettlement programme is a humane, orderly and legal way to manage the refugee crisis. The International Rescue Committee considers 108,000 refugees per year over five years to be a fair and achievable commitment.”
As the EU accounts for around a quarter of the world’s GDP, the IRC strongly believes it has the resources and capacity to resettle a quarter of the world’s refugees; 290,000 people or 58,000 per year over the next five years. In addition and specific to the conflict in Syria, UNHCR is calling for countries around the world to agree to resettle 10% of the five million Syrian refugees; which is 500,000 people. The IRC’s proposal for the EU is to resettle half of this number; 250,000 or 50,000 per year. In total this is 540,000 refugees over five years, or 108,000 refugees per year.
The total number of refugees worldwide in need of resettlement to a third country is now over 1 million, surpassing the milestone for the first time since UNHCR resettlement reporting began. Global resettlement remains inadequate to meet these rapidly growing needs. In June 2015, EU member states committed to resettle 22,000 refugees in response to the European refugee crisis. However, there’s been little movement in fulfilling these promises; only 3,000 were resettled by the end of last year.
The IRC’s call to EU member states is in line with what other wealthy nations like US and Canada – countries removed from the immediate implications of the crisis - are already doing.
The IRC is the only international organisation acting on all fronts of the refugee crisis; assisting the displaced inside Syria and across the Middle East, supporting refugees at transit points in Europe, and helping them to resettle in the United States.