On Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th of June the final conference of
the project "Promotion of Resettlement in the European Union
through Practical Cooperation by EU Member States and Other
Stakeholders" took place in Brussels.

"Final Conference of the Joint IOM, UNHCR and ICMC Project on Practical Cooperation in EU Resettlement, 6th and 7th of June 2011, Brussels"
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The event marked the conclusion of an 18-month project carried
out by the International Organization for Migration, the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International
Catholic Migration Commission with funding from the European
Commission's European Refugee Fund that has generated a wealth of
information on resettlement practices in Europe. It has also
significantly strengthened networking amongst resettlement
professionals and stakeholders from across the full spectrum of the
refugee resettlement process. It was attended by over 80
representatives of EU Member States, civil society resettlement
actors, the European Commission, UNHCR and IOM.

During the project a number of different practical cooperation
activities involving 10 EU Member States, civil society
organizations, UNHCR and IOM have been implemented. These
activities were presented at the final conference, after which the
participants discussed possible future cooperation. The activities
included the following:

- A successful pilot on resettlement interviews via video
link was undertaken by the Dutch government at the Emergency
Transit Centre in Timisoara, Romania, and was observed by Hungarian
government officials.

- Representatives of governments and NGOs from Belgium,
France, Hungary, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Romania,
participated in study visits to the UK and Sweden to learn more
about their programmes on the reception and integration of
resettled refugees.

- Furthermore, ICMC organized a training for local
resettlement providers in reception and integration in Sintra,
Portugal in June 2010. Over 45 participants and facilitators from
13 European countries and from Canada gathered for three days of
knowledge-sharing and exchange of practices around the reception
and integration of resettled refugees.

- ICMC and UNHCR set up national multi-stakeholder meetings
in most of the participating countries to promote and  improve
the coordination between all actors that are involved in the pre-
and post-arrival phases of resettlement. Over the past months such
meetings have been organized in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland,
Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK.

- One of the tangible outcomes of the project is the
publication of a handbook, launched at the final conference and
compiled by ICMC, entitled, "
href="http://www.icmc.net/pubs/paving-the-way" target=
"_blank">Paving the Way: A Handbook on the Reception and
Integration of Resettled Refugees" which provides practical
ideas and inspiration for facilitating integration once refugees
have arrived in their country of resettlement. In addition to that,
"Paving the Way" also presents a number of key recommendations.
These range from increasing support for resettlement and expanding
the number of resettlement places, to building policies for
integration and social cohesion, improving stakeholder planning and
cooperation, ensuring that strategic decisions on refugee placement
within local communities is based on an understanding of each
refugee's needs, and putting in place essential services and
support mechanisms prior to embarking on a resettlement programme.
Copies of the publication can be downloaded by visiting: "paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"http://www.icmc.net/pubs/paving-the-way" target="_blank" title=
"">www.icmc.net/pubs/paving-the-way.

The European Commission has recently announced that it will
continue its commitment to the initiative by providing funding
support for a follow-up project, which will bolster the expertise
of European practitioners at all stages of the resettlement and
integration process through mutual exchange, and seek to include
more Member States. This project named "Linking in EU Resettlement"
will begin in September 2011 and run until the end of 2012. The
focus of this project will be mainly on the reception and
integration of refugees at the local level. A key question will be:
How can municipalities and the host communities be more involved in
resettlement? The project will support the development of networks
of towns and cities that host resettled refugees and help them make
resettlement a successful solution for many more refugees in the
European Union.

For more information please contact:

IOM:

Jo de Backer

Tel: +32 2 287 74 14

E-mail: "mailto:JDeBacker@iom.int">JDeBacker@iom.int

ICMC Europe:

Petra HUECK

Tel: +32 2 227 97 29

E-mail: "mailto:hueck@icmc.net">hueck@icmc.net 

UNHCR:

Johannes van Gemund

Tel: +32 2 627 5981

E-mail: "mailto:gemund@unhcr.org">gemund@unhcr.org

"Final Conference of the Joint IOM, UNHCR and ICMC Project on Practical Cooperation in EU Resettlement, 6th and 7th of June 2011, Brussels"
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