Low quotas and the impact of COVID-19 resulted in only 22,770 resettled refugees in 2020.
A Congolese family heads to a new life in France, Cape Town International Airport, South Africa, March 2017. © UNHCR/James Oatway
Despite an estimated 1.44 million refugees in urgent need of resettlement globally, only 22,770 were resettled through UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, last year. This is according to new annual statistics from UNHCR.
These are the lowest refugee resettlement numbers the agency has witnessed in almost two decades. The drop stems from low quotas put forward by states, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed departures and programmes.
“We can only hope that 2020 will be an extreme anomaly for refugee resettlement. We urgently call on governments to boost their programmes this year, offer more places, expedite the processing of cases and help us save lives of those most in need and at greatest risk,” said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs.
“Last year was an extremely challenging one for people across the globe, but even more so for so many refugees who are already living on the margins, struggling to survive.”
Though the pandemic greatly impacted the numbers of refugees able to be resettled in 2020, UNHCR is encouraged by the fact that 20 countries, including several Nordic countries, still resumed their programmes, processing and receiving refugees throughout the year. Many of these implemented innovative and flexible ways to process cases throughout the pandemic.
“We have seen that refugee resettlement can be managed, even during a global health emergency, as long as there are proper and adequate health and safety protocols in place,” said Triggs.
The largest numbers of resettled refugees in 2020 originated from Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Myanmar.
With 85 per cent of the 20.4 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate hosted in developing regions, resettlement is a tangible way in which states can better protect refugees, demonstrate solidarity and support host countries. Facilitated family reunion, labour and education pathways as well as community-based sponsorships, are other opportunities for refugees that countries can support.
These are key objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees, and envisaged in a three-year resettlement and complementary pathways strategy launched by governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society and UNHCR.
Nordic countries have long been important partners for resettlement – both in terms of resettling refugees, as well as in supporting UNHCR and the capacity of the global resettlement system. UNHCR is very pleased that several countries in the Nordic region have increased their quotas in recent years – and we hope that these strong commitments will continue in light of the growing international needs.
“The fact is that as long as wars and conflict continue, displacement remains protracted, and the least-resourced countries are left with the extremely disproportionate burden of hosting the majority of the world’s refugees, we need other countries to step up,” Triggs said.
More information on UNHCR’s resettlement data for 2020 is available here, and UNHCR’s Global Resettlement Data Portal, with statistics since 2003, can be accessed here.
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