Active Refugee Admission: Overview of EU Member States' programmes , Date: 2023.08.08, format: Report, area: Authority , Resettlement, humanitarian admission and sponsorship schemes

Resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes create legal and safe pathways for refugees in particular need of protection. Programmes with the active participation of civil society are also becoming increasingly important. In those programmes private actors assist resettled refugees upon arrival with accommodation and other needs and encourage them to participate in the society. The EU promotes admission programmes for refugees. Since 2015, more than 110,000 people have found protection in the EU through various admission programmes of the Member States. The current Inform of the European Migration Network (EMN) gives an overview of the resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes in an EU-wide comparative perspective and captures the development of the programmes since 2016.

Due to various conflicts, migratory movements to neighbouring countries have increased all around the world. In 2022, 76 percent of the world's refugees were hosted in developing countries. Thus, there is an imbalance in taking responsibility for refugees. This is where resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes come in: They offer durable solutions to particularly vulnerable persons whose needs cannot be addressed in the country where they have sought protection. At the same time, they show solidarity with and provide support to countries and communities hosting large refugee populations.

The majority of EMN Member States have implemented resettlement programmes

While Sweden (since the 1950s), the Netherlands (1977) and Finland (1979) have long-standing and established resettlement programmes, most other Member States have implemented such admission programmes in more recent years. 19 out of the 25 Member States of the EMN which participated in drafting the Inform had a resettlement programme between 2016 and 2022. Germany has had a national resettlement programme since 2012 and has been contributing substantially to the EU Resettlement Programme. Member States such as Belgium, Spain and Finland, have continuously increased their admission quotas in the last six years, while other Member States, such as France and the Netherlands, have had a consistently high quota.

About half of the Member States of the EMN which participated in drafting the Inform have also established humanitarian admission programmes. The majority of recently adopted humanitarian admission programmes are dedicated to the evacuation of Afghan nationals and their families after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

EMN Inform ties in with resettlement research at the BAMF Research Centre

As the EMN Germany's National Contact Point, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) initiated the Inform on the topic of resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes. The Inform serves as a follow-up on the EMN study on resettlement from 2016. The Inform contributes to the larger research field of the BAMF Research Centre on active refugee admission policies in Germany. In this regard the Research Centre published a formative evaluation of the German community sponsorship programme "Neustart im Team - NesT". The inform is available in both English and German.


Background

Resettlement states offer legal and safe admission, protection and durable solutions to particularly vulnerable persons in need of international protection who are in a third country and fall under the mandate of the UNHCR in accordance with the Geneva Refugee Convention (so-called recognised refugees). Humanitarian admission programmes serve to facilitate the prompt admission of refugees in situations of war and acute crisis. They generally differ from resettlement programmes in terms of the status of stay granted and the admission criteria.

Admission programmes in cooperation with civil society are part of or complement resettlement admissions. Private and civil society actors provide material support for the reception of beneficiaries of protection. They also provide advice and support during the orientation phase after arrival.

Persons admitted under these programmes do not go through an asylum procedure.


EMN Inform: Resettlement, Humanitarian Admission and Sponsorship Schemes format: report, This download is available in other languages, too.

This inform provides up-to-date and comparative data on resettlement, humanitarian admission and sponsorship schemes. The majority of EMN Member Countries have implemented resettlement programmes between 2016 and 2022, although experiences vary greatly. While some countries have well-established national programmes, most EMN Member Countries have limited experience.Most EMN Member Countries operate national resettlement programmes, which set quotas at a national level for the number of refugees they will receive on an annual or multi-annual basis.