UNHCR APPEALS FOR GREATER SUPPORT AS GLOBAL RESETTLEMENT NEEDS EXCEED 950,000

Transcription

1 REPORT OF 2014 ANNUAL TRIPARTITE CONSULTATIONS ON RESETTLEMENT UNHCR APPEALS FOR GREATER SUPPORT AS GLOBAL RESETTLEMENT NEEDS EXCEED 950,000 The scale of the Syrian refugee crisis and the vast unmet need for refugee resettlement were dominant themes when representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), governments and NGOs from resettlement states and other inter-governmental bodies gathered in Geneva for the 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement (ATCR). Organised by UNHCR, the Government of Denmark and the Danish Refugee Council, the 2014 ATCR took place on June. It was the 20 th annual global dialogue on resettlement, bringing together 60 representatives of 26 governments, 51 NGO delegates from 21 countries, one refugee representative, 72 staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 12 staff of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and representatives of the European Union and the Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees. Australia was represented by four Australian NGO representatives (Paul Power, CEO of Refugee Council of Australia [RCOA], Dr Melika Sheikh-Eldin of AMES Victoria and RCOA Board, Paris Aristotle of the Victorian Foundation of Survivors of Torture and Cedric Manen, chair of Settlement Council of Australia), three representatives of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (Daniel Boyer, Kate O Malley and Susan Love) and refugee representative Joseph Youhana, a former refugee from Iraq who is now a team leader in the AMES housing program in Victoria. Dr Graham Thom, Refugee Coordinator of Amnesty International Australia, represented the global Amnesty network. Australia, which initiated the idea of refugee representation as chair of the ATCR in 2012, was the only country to send a refugee representative to the meeting. During the gathering, Mr Youhana gave a 15-minute presentation on life in Iraq, his experiences as a refugee in Syria, his resettlement to Australia in 2006 and his work since then in settlement services and support to refugee youth. Main themes The three-day meeting focused on a series of themes: Reporting on trends in resettlement in the past year and providing states and NGOs with an overview of UNHCR perspectives on resettlement needs in the coming year. Reviewing the international response to UNHCR s appeal for resettlement places for Syrian refugees. Discussing progress on a series of selected priority refugee situations to which UNHCR and states are attempting to respond through resettlement. Sharing information on issues related to the planning of resettlement programs and pre-departure processing. Discussing strategies for post-arrival support of resettled refugees. UNHCR s concerns about growing protection needs UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, spoke in the closing session of the ATCR, noting that 1.3 million refugees had been resettled in the 20 years since the first ATCR gathering in He said that it was impossible to overestimate the positive impact resettlement had on the lives of refugees given the opportunity to resettle. Suite 4A6, 410 Elizabeth Street Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia Phone: (02) Fax: (02) info@refugeecouncil.org.au Web: Incorporated in ACT ABN The Refugee Council of Australia represents non-government organisations and individuals working with and for refugees in Australia and around the world

2 On the current global picture, Mr Guterres said the world is in trouble, noting that, for the first time since World War II, more than 50 million people are displaced by persecution and conflict, 33.5 million of them internally displaced. During 2013, 2.5 million people became refugees, the highest number for any year since the Rwandan genocide two decades ago. Responsibility for caring for refugees is shifting more and more to the developing world, which is now hosting 86% of the world s refugees. In 2011, people were being displaced (internally or as refugees) at the rate of 14,000 people per day. In 2012, that figure grew to 23,000 per day and in 2013 it was 33,000 per day. UNHCR and its NGO partners were now really overstretched, he said, with many organisations desperately short of funding. One challenge for UNHCR and states and NGOs involved in resettlement was how best to use resettlement in emergency situations, including situations where the lives of refugees are at great risk. Another was to consider how resettlement could be used strategically in such a large-scale crisis as the displacement from Syria, with the number of Syrian refugees being 2.87 million and growing. UNHCR s Director of International Protection, Volker Turk, also spoke of the large number of complex crises happening simultaneously, saying that the crises should not be viewed as old and new crises. If we don t give old crises attention, they can easily become new ones, he said. Mr Turk outlined some of UNHCR s concerns and priorities about refugee protection: The increasingly complex nature of conflicts, many of which no longer have two, three or four sides but many armed actors 1,400 in the case of Syria. As a result, conflicts become protracted and almost impossible to resolve, something also being seen in the Central African Republic and South Sudan. The number of people moving by boat has grown considerably in 2014 in the Mediterranean Sea and large movements by boat continue across the Gulf of Aden and the Bay of Bengal. Protection at sea will be the focus of the High Commissioner s Dialogue on Protection Challenges in December Increasing use of detention for asylum seekers. UNHCR is working on a five-year strategy to promote alternatives to detention and has developed a detention monitoring manual with the International Detention Coalition. Continuing reliance on UNHCR to conduct refugee status determination in many countries, when that is not meant to be UNHCR s role. In 2013, UNHCR received 203,000 applications for asylum, 19% of all applications in the developing world, a number larger than any single country. Mass movements of unaccompanied minors, particularly to the USA and Europe, some of whom are going into the asylum process and some not. Mr Turk linked much of this movement to the concept of desperation migration referred to by IOM s Director General, William Lacy Swing. The coming launch of a 10-year campaign to abolish statelessness through a sustained emphasis on finding solutions for stateless people. This campaign will be launched at the Global Forum on Statelessness in The Hague on 15 September. NGO statement The NGO delegates worked together in developing a joint statement, coordinated and presented by the NGO Focal Point, Eva Singer of the Danish Refugee Council. The NGO statement (see Attachment B): Paid tribute to the late Debra Pressé, the former Director of the Resettlement Division of Citizenship and Immigration Canada and 2013 chair of ATCR, for her contribution to global refugee resettlement (Ms Pressé died in April 2014). Called for more nations to join those which had made significant commitments to resettlement or Humanitarian Admission Programmes (HAPs) for Syrian refugees, noting that this should not diminish the continued efforts to resettle refugees from other parts of the world. Expressed disappointment that Australia had reversed the very positive step taken in 2012 to expand its program for UNHCR-referred refugees by 6,000 places. Raised the urgent need for a coordinated effort to respond to the resettlement needs of vulnerable children, including unaccompanied minors. Emphasised the need for more effective responses to protracted refugee situations, highlighting the situation of Somali and Rohingya refugees as being among the groups in need of greater international attention and support through resettlement. Cautioned against states using integration potential in selection criteria for resettlement. Emphasised the importance of states, NGOs and UNHCR seeing refugees as an asset and discouraged the use of references to burden sharing or to pipelines of refugees. RCOA report on 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement page 2

3 Resettlement trends in 2013 During 2013, 71,411 refugees from 69 countries of origin were resettled from 80 countries of asylum to 25 countries of resettlement through UNHCR s referral processes. This figure does not include another 27,015 refugees resettled during the year by states without UNHCR making the initial referral. UNHCR s 2013 Global Trends document records 98,426 refugee arrivals in resettlement states, based on statistics provided by those states. As Table 1 illustrates, the number of resettlement departures of UNHCR-referred refugees was 3% higher than in 2012 but was 19% lower than the recent peak year of The number of submissions for resettlement from UNHCR to states increased in 2013 by 25% on the previous year. Table 1: Summary of resettlement statistics UNHCR resettlement submissions 2 93,226 74,835 91, , ,558 Resettlement departures 71,411 69,252 61,649 72,914 84,657 Countries of asylum Countries of origin Countries of resettlement In 2013, the largest resettlement programs were from Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia and Turkey with the main beneficiaries of resettlement being refugees from Burma, Bhutan, Iraq and Somalia. As in previous years, the key resettlement states were USA, Australia, Canada and Sweden. Table 2: Top 10: UNHCR resettlement departures 2013 Rank Country of Refugees Country of Refugees Country of Refugees origin resettled asylum resettled resettlement resettled 1 Burma 16,701 Nepal 10,828 USA 47,870 2 Iraq 13,979 Thailand 8,806 Australia 11,117 3 Bhutan 10,665 Malaysia 8,537 Canada 5,140 4 Somalia 8,483 Turkey 7,223 Sweden 1,832 5 DR Congo 4,746 Syria 4,195 Germany 1,092 6 Afghanistan 4,377 Kenya 3,604 Norway Iran 2,544 Jordan 3,440 UK Sudan 2,036 Lebanon 3,331 Finland Eritrea 1,907 Ethiopia 2,640 New Zealand Syria 1,217 Uganda 2,200 Denmark 475 All others 4,756 All others 16,607 All others 848 TOTAL 71,411 71,411 71,411 UNHCR s 2013 Global Trends document records that the 98,426 refugee resettlement arrivals through UNHCR and non-unhcr processes were to: United States 66,249, Australia 13,169, Canada 12,173, Sweden 1,902, United Kingdom 966, Norway 948, New Zealand 840, Finland 674, Denmark 515, Netherlands 311, Germany 293, Belgium 100, France 89, Ireland 76, Brazil 62, Philippines 19, Japan 18, Uruguay 14, Portugal 6, Hungary 1 and Czech Republic 1. 3 Resettlement capacity in 2014 The number of states currently involved in refugee resettlement has grown to 27, with 21 having regular annual programs, the latest being Switzerland. Japan has announced that in 2015 its pilot resettlement program will become a fully-fledged program. UNHCR noted at the ATCR meeting that some of the resettlement-related pledges made at the December 2011 Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and Stateless Persons have yet to be fulfilled. As noted earlier, NGOs expressed disappointment that Australia, which increased its refugee resettlement program in , reversed this decision following the change of government in September The statistics in Tables 1 to 8 are taken from the public version of UNHCR s Projected Global Resettlement Needs The number of resettlement submissions from UNHCR to states, and the number of refugees departed reflect the number of persons involved rather than cases or families. 3 Statistics from Table 21 of the data table annexes published with UNHCR 2013 Global Trends. RCOA report on 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement page 3

4 During 2014, UNHCR expects to have up to 80,000 resettlement places available for referral. The 21 national pledges for UNHCR-referred resettlement places in 2014 have come from Australia 6,500, Belgium 100, Brazil 60, Canada 7,575, Czech Republic 55, Denmark 500, Finland 1,050, France 100, Germany 300, Iceland 22, Ireland 90, Japan 30, Netherlands 500, New Zealand 750, Norway 1,620, Portugal 45, Sweden 1,900, Switzerland 170, United Kingdom 750, USA 58,000 and Uruguay 30. In addition, three countries expect to resettle additional refugees through non-unhcr programs: Australia 4,500, Canada 7,100 and USA 12,000. If all available resettlement places were filled, the maximum resettlement capacity in these 21 countries in 2014 would be 103,747. The resettlement quotas in a number of countries are maximum figures and, as a result, each year not all available places are filled. Global resettlement needs in 2015 The crisis in Syria has led to a substantial increase in the number of refugees UNHCR has identified as being in priority need of resettlement. In its Projected Global Resettlement Needs document for 2015, UNHCR estimates that 958,429 of the 11.7 million refugees under its mandate are in need of resettlement a 39% increase on the estimate of 690,915 a year ago. As global resettlement capacity is likely to remain close to 80,000, more than 90% of the pressing need for resettlement is expected to remain unmet in In its planning, UNHCR is expecting to be able to refer 126,677 refugees to resettlement states, as Table 3 illustrates. Table 3: UNHCR projected global resettlement needs, 2015 Region or sub-region of asylum Total 2015 projected resettlement needs UNHCR submissions planned for 2015 Central Africa and Great Lakes 75,925 13,710 East and Horn of Africa 173,961 24,847 Southern Africa 21,235 5,415 West Africa 7,635 1,315 Africa total 278,756 45,287 Americas total 15,470 1,413 Central Asia East Asia and the Pacific 67,015 15,622 South Asia 16,940 3,160 Southwest Asia 114,110 4,700 Asia total 198,465 23,882 Eastern Europe 1, South-Eastern Europe 148,690 25,475 Europe total 149,699 26,025 Middle East 295,764 26,020 North Africa 20,275 4,050 Middle East and North Africa total 316,039 30,070 TOTAL 958, ,677 Response to appeal for resettlement places for Syrian refugees In September 2013, in an attempt to ease pressure on Syria s neighbours (principally Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt), UNHCR issued an international appeal for countries to admit 30,000 Syrian refugees through resettlement, humanitarian admission or other programs by the end of This appeal for support resulted in a greater response than expected, with 34,157 places pledged and an additional unspecified number of places offered by USA. Much of the response was from Europe, which has traditionally had a much lower level of commitment to refugee resettlement. Germany alone offered 20,000 humanitarian admission places and 5,500 places for individual sponsorship of Syrian refugees. Under Germany s humanitarian admission program, refugees are given protection for two years initially but are able to apply to remain permanently at the end of that period. Austria pledged 1,500 humanitarian admission places and another 17 states collectively offered 5,772 resettlement places: Australia 500, Belarus 20, Belgium 75, Canada 1,300 (200 government assisted resettlement and 1,100 private sponsorship), Denmark 140, Finland 500, Hungary 30, Ireland 90, Liechtenstein 4, Luxembourg 60, Netherlands 250, New Zealand 100, Norway 1,000, Portugal 23, Spain 130, Sweden 1,200, Switzerland 350. In addition, UNHCR has received 885 unofficial pledges from states which it RCOA report on 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement page 4

5 has not named. While the German and Austrian offers are new, many of the resettlement places offered for Syrian refugees are being taken from existing resettlement quotas. In February 2014, UNHCR invited states to consider multi-year commitments to admitting Syrian refugees, seeking another 100,000 places from January 2015 to December Priority rity refugee situations Since 2010, the Working Group on Resettlement, which brings together UNHCR, states and some NGOs between annual ATCR gatherings, has been working to progress international action on a number of designated priority refugee situations where increased cooperation could improve resettlement and other protection outcomes. In most cases, UNHCR and resettlement states have formed core groups to lead the development of responses to each situation. Each core group is chaired by one resettlement state and brings the key countries of asylum into the discussion to look at the potential roles of resettlement, humanitarian aid and diplomatic action. With this approach, UNHCR and resettlement states look at how resettlement can be used strategically, given how few resettlement places are available in comparison to the global need for increased protection for refugees. At the ATCR, UNHCR and resettlement states reported in detail on progress with each of the identified priority situations: Somali refugees in Kenya; Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan; refugees of different backgrounds in Turkey; Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon; Colombian refugees in Ecuador; and Congolese refugees in Africa (particularly Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and the Southern Africa region). Planning of resettlement programs and pre-departure issues Among the matters discussed at the ATCR relating to resettlement planning prior to departure were: The role of NGOs in identifying resettlement needs. Strategies to minimise fraud in the resettlement process. IOM s experiences in providing pre-departure orientation for refugees about to be resettled. Challenges in the processing of resettlement applications submitted under UNHCR s Women and Girls at Risk category. Post arrival support of resettled refugees The post-arrival support issues discussed included: The role of the media in mobilising community support for resettlement. The perspectives and experiences of countries with new resettlement programs, with presentations from the governments of Switzerland and Belgium. Differences between the perception and reality of integrating resettled Somali refugees. Integration of refugees with specific needs, including unaccompanied children and refugees with psychosocial needs. Paul Power CEO, Refugee Council of Australia August 2014 RCOA report on 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement page 5

6 ATTACHMENT A UNHCR STATISTICS ON RESETTLEMENT SUBMISSIONS In its Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2015, UNHCR provides a series of statistics on resettlement submissions and departures in 2013 which provide insights into how resettlement states are responding to UNHCR requests to resettle refugees. 4 Table 4: Acceptance rates of UNHCR submissions in 2013,, by country of origin Country of origin Cases submitted 5 Cases accepted Burma 10, % Iraq 5, % Somalia 3, % Democratic Republic of Congo 3, % Afghanistan 1, % Bhutan 1, % Iran 1, % Eritrea 1, % Syria 1, % Sudan 1, % All others 2, % TOTAL 33, % Table 5: UNHCR resettlement ement by priority category, 2013 UNHCR priority p category Persons submitted Cases accepted 6 Persons departed Normal 87, % 64,703 Urgent 5, % 6,076 Emergency % 570 Unspecified / Other TOTAL 93, % 71,411 Table 6: UNHCR resettlement ent by submission category, 2013 Category Persons submitted Cases accepted Persons departed Legal and/or physical protection needs 35, % 26,319 Lack of foreseeable durable solutions 19, % 22,346 Survivors of violence and/or torture 18, % 11,530 Women and girls at risk 11, % 7,106 Medical needs 2, % 2,029 Family reunification 1, % 766 Children and adolescents at risk % 340 Older refugees % 122 Humanitarian Admissions Program 4, % 802 Others / Unspecified % 51 TOTAL 93, % 71,411 4 Note that submissions, acceptances and departures do not necessarily occur within the same calendar year. 5 Cases refer to an individual or a family unit, with many cases involving more than one person. 6 Acceptance rate is based on cases submitted (often more than one person) rather than persons submitted. RCOA report on 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement page 6

7 Table 7: Submissions under the Women and Girls at Risk Category, 2013 Asylum country Persons submitted Proportion of submissions from asylum country Persons departed Kenya 1, % 652 Ethiopia 1, % 259 Iran 1, % 1,053 Uganda 1, % 225 Turkey % 597 Malaysia % 421 Pakistan % 638 Egypt % 427 Ecuador % 218 Syria % 360 All others 2,848 2,256 TOTAL 11, % 7,106 Table 8: Protracted refugee situations where resettlement takes place, Comparison of UNHCR resettlement submissions and departures Submissions Departures Country of origin Country of Total asylum population Afghanistan Pakistan 16, ,079 1, Iran 824,087 1,453 1,873 2, ,427 1,900 Somalia Kenya 512,069 8,439 2,170 3,996 2,102 1,442 2,612 Burma Thailand 83,317 7,766 6,532 8,790 9,214 6,845 8,208 Malaysia 84,671 13,217 15,103 14,441 8,274 10,308 8,072 Iraq Syria 62,727 8,708 2,061 2,462 4,270 3,293 3,796 Lebanon 6,516 3,138 1,698 1, ,807 2,230 Jordan 27,814 3,378 1,481 1, ,229 3,000 Bhutan Nepal 40,971 13,092 9,922 7,070 18,068 16,674 10,665 Eritrea Sudan 81, , DR Congo Tanzania 63, Burundi 41, , Rwanda 57,857 1,315 2,160 2, Uganda 127, ,451 3, Colombia Ecuador 54, ,620 1, ,045 Mixed population Turkey 257,944 6,472 7,913 10,256 4,388 5,929 7,223 RCOA report on 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement page 7

8 ATTACHMENT B NGO STATEMENT 2014 ANNUAL TRIPARTITE CONSULTATIONS ON RESETTLEMENT NGOs would also like to acknowledge the tremendous contribution that Debra Pressé made to refugee resettlement both within Canada and also worldwide. Her passion and commitment to refugees as fellow human beings was always guided by profound compassion and belief in the importance of human rights. She will be deeply missed. I would like to start the formal NGO statement by commending UNHCR for increasing resettlement submissions in 2013 by nearly 25% over 2012, largely thanks to simplified processing methodologies and increased partnership with NGOs. When some of us met in Copenhagen in February 2014 for the Working Group meeting, we touched upon many important issues relating to the protection of refugees through resettlement. In the months following the Working Group meeting, some of these issues have become even more urgent and our joint efforts to save lives even more necessary. Thousands of refugees and migrants have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean to seek safety in Europe. The vast majority of them are refugees fleeing the ongoing civil war in Syria and the massive human rights violations in Eritrea and neighbouring countries. Europe has closed its land borders between Turkey and Greece and between Turkey and Bulgaria to such an extent that the refugees are forced to risk their lives in unseaworthy boats. This does not have to be so Europe could do much more to ensure legal and safe access to protection in its territory. Similar situations exist in other parts of the world. Resettlement is an obvious tool which has the potential to be utilized much more. Fortunately, several European countries have come forward to offer protection in the form of resettlement or Humanitarian Admission Programmes (HAPs) for Syrian refugees. Other countries will hopefully follow in their footsteps. The contributions HAPs have made should not be underestimated; however, NGOs believe that much more can and must be done in order to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis. The outflow of Syrian refugees is of a size and scope that the global community has not witnessed in decades. The resettlement of Syrians should not diminish the continued efforts to resettle refugees from other parts of the world, but we also must recognize that the Syrian refugee emergency necessitates that those of us involved with resettlement respond to the crisis as just that, an emergency, and expand our resettlement programs accordingly. We encourage States to follow UNHCR s call to offer resettlement places in the form of multilateral commitments in addition to their current resettlement quota to ensure that resettlement opportunities also continue to be available for refugees from the rest of the world. Humanitarian admission has received greater attention recently and is being developed in a context of great need of more resettlement places. It may prove to be a flexible and effective protection tool but it should not replace resettlement as a durable solution. We will hear more about the implementation in the coming days so for now we just wish to encourage States, who already use this instrument, to ensure that the refugees are provided a realistic possibility of a permanent solution in order to avoid extended periods of uncertainty. Apart from these solutions of a more ad hoc nature, we strongly encourage States to secure permanent solutions and more resettlement places. On this note we are disappointed that Australia has reversed the very positive step taken in 2012 to expand its program for UNHCR-referred refugees by 6,000 places. We are fully aware of the challenges which Governments face trying to increase the number of resettlement places. One of these challenges is public perception, which in many countries seems to be that they are receiving the majority of the world s refugees. In order to address these concerns, we are RCOA report on 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement page 8

9 daily using our voices and expertise in public and with various stakeholders to dispel this misconception and are committed to continue doing so. Following last year s ATCR discussion about child protection issues, NGOs would again like to raise the urgent need for a coordinated effort to respond to the needs of vulnerable children, including unaccompanied minors and separated children. We encourage the expansion of resettlement opportunities for these children in all regions. NGOs remain concerned about the Eritrean unaccompanied children who have experienced significant torture and trauma as they have attempted to flee Eritrea to find safety. Specifically, NGOs strongly encourage States to consider the expedited resettlement of the more than 300 unaccompanied Eritrean youth in Cairo, Egypt where there are neither local integration opportunities nor opportunities for safe returns. Protracted refugee situations are also an area of continuous and increasing concern. The average length of time for a protracted refugee situation has increased from 10 years to 18 years. 3 out of 4 persons in displacement have been so for more than 5 years. Significant numbers of refugees are born as refugees. These figures can be overwhelming but should not prevent us from acting to find solutions after refugee crises have faded from the headlines resettlement may only be a small part of the solution, but can nevertheless prove to be the key to unlock a stalemate, thereby supporting not only the individual refugee who is resettled but also the majority for whom resettlement is not a realistic solution. Somalia is one such protracted situation which also deserves our attention. Despite efforts both within Somalia and internationally to create stability in the country, it is obvious that the vast majority of Somali refugees in the neighbouring countries and elsewhere will continue to be in need of protection including resettlement for many years to come. NGOs look forward to discussions at this year s ATCR that will focus on the successful integration of Somali refugees that take place in many resettlement countries. NGOs embrace the High Commissioner s global initiative on Somali refugees. The resettlement of Rohingya refugees also remains of paramount concern for many NGOs. We would strongly support the opening of resettlement out of Bangladesh, and would encourage a large scale program in order to provide the long overdue opportunity for the Rohingya who have been languishing in squalor with no chances for local integration or return to Myanmar. We urge the incoming Norwegian Chair to dedicate time on the next WGR and ATCR agendas to discussing Rohingya resettlement in greater detail. Successful integration of resettled refugees is obviously of utmost importance for humanitarian reasons, in order to create a truly durable solution and in order to ensure continued public support for resettlement. The need to continuously improve integration programmes and manage expectations among the refugees concerned and the receiving communities should, however, not be conflated with integration potential as a selection criteria. We welcome efforts from some states to limit and hopefully abolish these criteria in order to focus on protection and the humanitarian needs of refugees. In April 2001 the UN International Conference for the Integration of Resettled Refugees took place in Sweden. One of the significant outcomes of this international gathering was the creation of the UNHCR Integration Handbook. We believe there have been considerable developments in refugee integration practices and policies since then. As a result, we strongly believe it is time to organize another international conference on refugee integration where NGOs, states, international organizations and UNHCR can share and learn about current promising and innovative practices on refugee integration. The ATCR provides an opportunity for NGOs, governments, UNHCR, IOM and other participants to reflect on the benefits resettled refugees bring to their new societies. It is important that we collectively see refugees as an asset not as a burden and as human beings not as subjects of our resettlement strategies. In this spirit, we would encourage all of us to reflect this in the way that we speak about refugees, avoiding references to burden sharing or to pipelines of refugees and creating opportunities for people who have been refugees to have influence in decision-making at every level possible. RCOA report on 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement page 9

10 Finally, turning to the reform of the ATCR and WGR, NGOs have actively worked with our State and UNHCR colleagues for the productive reform efforts thus far. As equal partners in the ATCR proceedings and key players in refugee resettlement, NGOs have a crucial role to play in both policy development and implementation, and play a crucial role as essential partners in all phases of the resettlement process, from identification through integration. We look forward to the discussions tomorrow among States, NGOs and UNHCR. We hope that these discussions can take place in an atmosphere of openness and constructiveness. Eva Singer ATCR NGO Focal Point 2014 Head of Asylum and Repatriation Department Danish Refugee Council RCOA report on 2014 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement page 10