The refugee organisation of the United Nations (UNHCR) estimates that in 2010 at least 200,000 refugees are in need of resettlement. This concerns people who after fleeing their country are at risk in their own region and forgotten refugees who are spending their lives in big refugee camps with no prospect of returning or integrating locally. At present, the Dutch government yearly invites an average of 500 refugees for resettlement in the Netherlands, including potential students.
This project aims to develop in cooperation with partner organisations (UNHCR, IND, COA and the Dutch Council for Refugees) a new approach towards the integration of resettled refugee students in the Netherlands. The approach will be partly inspired by the experiences in Canada with the so-called private sponsorship programme in which civil society plays an important role with regards to the reception and integration of resettled refugees.
The project runs from January 2009 to December 2011 with a pilot group of 60 resettled refugees and is funded by the European Refugee Fund (national programme 2008).
Expert meeting
On 16 December 2009, an expert meeting on refugee resettlement took place in The Hague (Nieuwspoort). The meeting was organised by UAF in cooperation with the Dutch Council for Refugees and UNHCR in order to explore new initiatives in the field of resettlement in Europe and North America in the context of a joint EU Resettlement programme. Speakers included UAF chair Ruud Lubbers, H.P. Schreinemachers (Ministry of Justice), Philip Landon (World University Service Canada) and Akoi Bazzie (British Refugee Council). Almost 40 representatives of amongst others the Dutch Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs, IND (Dutch Immigration Service), COA (Central Organisation for the reception of Asylum seekers), Reception Centre Amersfoort, Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG), UNHCR, Dutch Council for Refugees, UAF, IOM, CCME en ICMC participated in the discussion.
See main conclusions
Further information
Berend Jonker
Project coordinator
Email: B.Jonker@uaf.nl