For individuals and families who have fled their home because of a well-founded fear of persecution, returning safely to their home country may never be an option.

Together with our strategic partners, ICMC works to find sustainable and dignified durable solutions for these refugees. While fewer than one percent of the world refugee population is given the opportunity to seek a new beginning in a safe third country, refugee resettlement remains an important protection tool─and source of hope─that allows many of the most vulnerable to rebuild their lives, reunite with family after years of separation and regain a sense of hope for the future.

Since 1951, ICMC has identified and accompanied over one million refugees for resettlement─most notably in Europe following the Second World War, in Southeast Asia throughout the 1980s, in the Balkans at the turn of the millennium, and in the Middle East today. Each year, ICMC identifies and processes hundreds of refugees for resettlement to a new home country, providing assistance with security clearances, cultural orientation, medical examinations and follow-up. In 2006-07, the ICMC Overseas Processing Entity (OPE) in Turkey alone accounted for nearly one-half of all Iraqi refugees accepted for resettlement to the United States.

Additionally, ICMC provides expert resettlement personnel through the ICMC-UNHCR Resettlement Deployment Scheme to support UNHCR resettlement activities in field offices throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Lain America and the Middle East. These expert deployees are instrumental in identifying and referring vulnerable refugees, submitting more than 34,000 individual cases for resettlement in 2008 alone.