UNHCR welcomes US' plan to increase refugee resettlement
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - United States President Joe Biden’s proposal to raise the target for refugee resettlement there in the coming fiscal year to 125,000 people, has been welcomed by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
“This plan reflects the commitment of the US Government and the American people to help ensure that the world’s most vulnerable refugees have a chance to rebuild their lives in safety,” said UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo, briefing journalists in Geneva on Tuesday.
A UN statement said Monday’s move fulfils an earlier pledge to raise a cap that had been cut to 15,000 under his predecessor, Donald Trump, the lowest since the 1980 Refugee Act took effect.
Ms. Mantoo said the plan emphasises “the importance of all countries doing their part” in responding to the needs of refugees.
The announcement comes after US officials said on Monday that more than 6,000 Haitians, together with other migrants, had been removed from an encampment at Del Rio, Texas and immediately repatriated.
The Caribbean island nation has been rocked by a recent earthquake, flooding and a political crisis caused by the assassination of its President.
Commenting on the US move to take in 125,000 refugees and their families next year, Ms. Mantoo noted that the past two decades have seen the lowest number of refugee resettlements on record.
With “90 per cent of the world’s refugees hosted in some of the poorest countries in the world, this should be applauded”, she said, adding that a predicted 1.47 million refugees will be in need of resettlement next year.
“Resettlement is a mechanism to ensure protection,” but it is “available to only a small fraction of the world's refugees. It is dependent on the numbers of the States to put forward”, she said, adding that the UNHCR “looks forward to working with US government counterparts on how this will be rolled out”.
-0- PANA MA 22Sept2021
