Admission Mechanisms That Foster Integration Key to New Agreement on Refugees

Admission Mechanisms That Foster Integration Key to New Agreement on Refugees
A Syrian cook, sponsored by his uncle to move to Argentina, with his co-workers in a takeway restaurant in Cordoba. Photo: UNHCR/Frederick Bernas

The new international agreement on refugees should embrace mechanisms that facilitate their admission and integration at the same time.

In a statement delivered at the 4th-5th Thematic Discussion on the Global Compact on Refugees, the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) called for “mechanisms designed to connect global need for [refugee] resettlement and other admission pathways with national, local and family interests and capacity for solid integration.”

“From our experience, we most appreciate existing mechanisms… in which the way that people are admitted increases the speed of their integration,” said Mantalin Kyrou, ICMC’s Policy Officer, in delivering the statement.

Work-related and education visas, family and community-based sponsorship, are all mechanisms centered on welcoming and helping refugees rebuild their lives through a day-to-day connection with host communities.

The 14-15 November thematic discussions in Geneva are part of the development of the Global Compact on Refugees, which Member States agreed to develop at the UN General Assembly in 2016.

Watch Mantalin Kyrou, ICMC’s Policy Officer, delivering the statement (1:19:50)

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ICMC provides assistance and protection to vulnerable people on the move and advocates for sustainable solutions for refugees and migrants.