ICMC Experts Ensure Ongoing Support for Global Refugee Protection

March 31, 2026

By Rachel Westerby

In ICMC’s 75^th year, we update you on the work of ICMC deployees ensuring access to protection and assistance for refugees around the world

For more than a quarter of a century, ICMC experts have been deployed to support UNHCR field operations all over the world. Photo: UNHCR field office receiving ICMC deployees in a refugee camp in Ethiopia ©Nathalie Perroud/ICMC

For more than 25 years, ICMC has been deploying refugee protection and resettlement experts to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) field and refugee response operations across the world. Since 2020, ICMC has additionally deployed experts to support operations of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Providing Expertise & Capacity for Global Refugee Protection

The global ICMC Deployment Scheme roster includes experts from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, with wide-ranging expertise in crucial areas of protection and case processing. In 2025, the roster numbered 531 members.

Together, they carried out assessments for 24,227 persons: for resettlement, Refugee Status Determination, and Best Interest Assessments/Determinations for unaccompanied children.

Graphic showing ICMC deployments in 2025 (56 deployments to 5 global regions)

In 2025, ICMC experts were deployed to UNHCR operations in 24 countries around the world. An additional 5 ICMC experts supported UNICEF operations in 5 countries in the African and Asia-Pacific regions.

Supporting the Refugee Response in Greece

Alongside global deployments, ICMC experts are making a key contribution to the national refugee response in Greece.

A ‘frontline’ state located on the borders of Europe, since 2015 Greece has seen record numbers of people seeking protection arriving in the country, in particular via sea routes to the Greek islands. Alongside reception and protection for asylum seekers, those granted asylum in Greece require support and assistance to ensure their integration into Greek society.

IIn 2023, 4,700 unaccompanied and separated children in Greece were supported through programs supervised by ICMC’s expert deployed to the local organization METAdrasi. Photo: Refugee students at a METAdrasi Greek language class in Athens — In 2023, 4,700 unaccompanied and separated children in Greece were supported through programs supervised by ICMC’s expert deployed to the local organization METAdrasi. Photo: Refugee students at a METAdrasi Greek language class in Athens, Greece © ICMC

In 2025, 32 ICMC experts were deployed to the UNHCR Greece country office, supporting:

Protection monitoring, reception and identification, asylum procedures, legal interventions and strategic litigation, integration support, durable solutions, and municipal capacity-building.
The development of a national plan to operationalize the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.
A strengthened national Racist Violence Recording Network (with UNHCR and the Greek National Commission for Human Rights).
Implementation of a national Best Interests Procedures Accreditation system to strengthen national child protection systems and processes (with the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons of the Greek government, and the Institutional Protection Athens Coordination Centre for Migrant and Refugee Issues).

A further 38 ICMC experts were deployed to the UNICEF Greece Country Office in 2025, providing technical assistance to Greek government ministries in the areas of public health, nutrition, and child protection, and contributing to improved national institutional frameworks and action planning for policy areas relating to child welfare and rights.