A first group of 18 refugees from Myanmar arrived at Tokyo's Narita
Airport today from a Thai refugee camp as part of a Japanese
Government pilot refugee resettlement project. Two families with a
total of nine persons will arrive in Japan later to join them.

The new arrivals from Thailand's Mae La refugee camp are the
first of some 90 refugees from Myanmar that Japan has offered to
resettle under the pilot project, which will run over the next
three years.

"Japan has undertaken an admirable, ground-breaking initiative
in offering to resettle 30 refugees from Myanmar every year for a
trial period of three years. This is the first full-fledged refugee
resettlement project in Asia and will almost certainly pave the way
for similar initiatives elsewhere in the future," said IOM Director
General William Lacy Swing.

IOM's roles in the project include provision of logistical
assistance to Japanese Government selection missions, which select
the refugees from lists submitted to them by the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Once the candidate refugees have been selected, IOM provides
health assessments, pre-departure cultural orientation and language
training. It also prepares them for the trip to Japan and makes all
the travel arrangements.

IOM is also working with the government and partners in Japan to
raise awareness of the project to facilitate the smooth integration
of the refugees into the Japanese society.

On arrival, the refugees were met by representatives of the
Government of Japan and the receiving agency handling their initial
integration.

For more information please contact:

Naoko Hashimoto

IOM Tokyo

Tel: +81-3-35950106

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