A second group of four refugee families from Myanmar arrived at
Tokyo's Narita Airport yesterday (29/11) from a Thai refugee camp
as part of a Japanese Government pilot refugee resettlement
project. The group of 18 refugees will shortly be joined by another
family of five.

Yesterday's new arrivals from Thailand's Mae La refugee camp are
the second group of some 90 refugees from Myanmar that Japan has
offered to resettle under the pilot scheme, which is scheduled to
run for three years.

IOM Thailand provides logistical help to Japanese government
missions that select the refugees from lists submitted to them by
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Once the refugees have been selected, IOM provides health
assessments, pre-departure cultural orientation and language
training. It also helps them to prepare 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 Japanese society.

"IOM is proud to be part of this pilot resettlement project,
which represents a practical contribution to international
burden-sharing in refugee protection," said IOM Tokyo Chief of
Mission William Barriga.

For more information, please contact:

Naoko Hashimoto

IOM Tokyo

Tel: + 81-3-3595-0106

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