Key issues: Resettlement programmes and the UK - ICAR

Third country integration attempts to returnindependence to resettled refugees and providethem with the capacity to build a positive future inthe receiving society. Before the refugees arrive,the host government will co-ordinate withvoluntary and refugee organisations to provide thenecessary services and provide the public withinformation about the new arrivals. They are oftenreceived in designated centres and provided withvital information about living in their new society.Upon leaving reception facilities, resettled refugeesare provided with affordable housing and othervital support to aid their integration.Legal aspects to resettlementThe resettlement process is not defined in theRefugee Convention or in UK law, yet espousesthe intentions of both in terms of protection andassistance of refugees. The Nationality,Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 provides thelegal context for resettlement and the UK. Section59 indicates that the government may ‘participatein a project which is designed to…arrange orassist the settlement of migrants’. 2The Home Office White Paper Secure Borders,Safe Haven: Integration with Diversity (2002) 3announced the development of an annualresettlement programme to the UK, known as theGateway Protection Programme. A number ofrefugees from West Africa and South East Asiawere resettled under this programme in the UK in2004. The programme, operated by bodies withinthe Home Office, initially took most referrals fromthe UNHCR centre in Accra, Ghana and aimed toresettle 500 people by April 2004. As theprogramme has developed, the Home Office hasbegun to include other locations where UNHCRis in operation.Home Office caseworkers address eachindividual’s criteria for resettlement based onwhether the applicant’s human rights are at riskin the country of refuge or, where there is noimmediate risk, whether resettlement canprovide a durable solution for long termprotection needs. The applicant is required toco-operate with UK officials and be committedto supporting himself or herself in the UK.Useful documentsUNHCR (2004) Resettlement Handbook,2004 edition. Geneva: UNHCR.UNHCR (2004) Integration Handbook:Refugee Resettlement, 2004 edition. Geneva:UNHCRRefugee Council (2002) Principles for a UKresettlement programme. London: RefugeeCouncilAn applicant can be turned down if he or she hascommitted a crime against peace, a serious nonpoliticalcrime or has been guilty of acts contraryto the aims of the UN. Applicants referred bythe UNHCR and then accepted by the UK arenormally granted indefinite leave to remainallowing them free rights to live, work and claimbenefits in the UK and travel abroad other thanto the country they are seeking refugee from.After five years of living in the UK continuouslyresettled refugees will be able to apply forcitizenship.P 2 P Home Office (2002) Nationality, Immigrationand Asylum Act. London HMSO.P 3 P Home Office (2002) Secure Borders, SafeHaven: Integration with Diversity. London: HMSO.Factsheet - Key issues: Resettlement programmes and the UK (October 2005) © ICAR 2005.

What is the UK’s experience ofresettling refugees?The UK has a long history of resettlement, yet ithas largely been on an ad hoc basis. Someexamples include: 4‣ 210,000 Polish Second World War exilescame to the UK from 1940 to 1950, fleeingthe Nazi invasion. Their integration wassuccessful as they found both housing andemployment with relative ease.‣ 42,000 Ugandan Asians, expelled fromtheir country by Idi Amin, were resettled inBritain in 1972-4. The main focus of theresettlement strategy was to find theUgandans mainstream housing, though manyfound their own accommodation throughinformal networks.‣ 22,500 Vietnamese displaced personsarrived in the UK from 1972. The JointCommittee for Vietnamese Refugees coordinateda number of charities to carry outthe operational details and service provisionfor this programme. An absence of a preexistingethnic community contributed to highunemployment rates and significant secondarymigration for this community.There are two other refugee assistanceprogrammes (although they do not constituteformal resettlement programmes). The first is the‘Mandate Refugee Programme’, which allowsindividuals to claim asylum whilst overseas and thesecond is the ‘ten or more plan’, which assistsrefugees with disabilities or a serious medicalcondition.A service provider’s experienceSandy Buchan, Chief Executive of RefugeeAction, ran a residential centre in the 1980sfor Vietnamese refugees in Osterley. Ithosted a number of policy experiments:• fast-track education for refugee childrenenabling them to gain ‘O’ levels• social work training to build capacitywithin the Vietnamese community• a reception model made up of ‘learningvillages’ and high levels of VietnamesestaffingLessons from this programme were used indeveloping the strategy for the Bosnian andKosovan programmes.____From personal interview conducted forEsterhuizen, L (2004) Making better use ofrefugee data and information. London: ICARWhile resettlement is not synonymous with‘temporary protection’, the Bosnian EvacuationProgramme and the Kosovan HumanitarianEvacuation Programme can help understand thedevelopment of targeted service for groupsevacuated to the UK. Bosnian refugees weredispersed in ‘clusters’ in order to form ethniccommunities. 5 Similar strategies were used withthe Kosovan programme and both were seen asrelatively successful in integrating the refugees inUK society. These programmes have providedopportunities for learning for future resettlementprogrammes.P 4 P More detail on the UK’s history of resettlement canbe found in Robinson, V. (2003:3) ‘An evidence basefor future policy: reviewing UK resettlement policy’ inGelsthorpe, V. and Herlitz, L. (eds) Listening to evidence:the future of UK resettlement. Conference proceedings.London: Home Office.P 5 P Robinson, V. and C. Coleman (2000) ‘Lessonslearned?: a critical review of the governmentprogramme to resettle Bosnian quota refugees in theUnited Kingdom’. International Migration Review 34 (4)pp. 1217-1244Factsheet - Key issues: Resettlement programmes and the UK (October 2005) © ICAR 2005.

Challenges for resettlementThe first phase of resettlement, overseasprocessing, faces a number of obstacles andexamples include:‣ Interpretation of refugee definitionThere is often a discrepancy between howthe UNHCR and nation-states define arefugee, which means that some refugeesreferred by the UNHCR are not accepted bysome states as a refugee.‣ SelectivityThere is a tendency among some states to‘hand-pick’ refugees by imposing additionalcriteria for those to be resettled, oftenaccepting people with greater integrationpotential and leaving behind refugees atgreater risk.‣ ResourcesUNHCR cares for over seventeen milliondisplaced people. To prepare cases forresettlement is incredibly time-consumingand the organisation is unable to cope withan expanding resettlement programme. 6There is a need for states offering increasedresettlement opportunities to provideUNHCR with more funding.The second phase of the resettlement process isthird country integration and a number of lessonshave been learnt about overcoming obstacles fromprevious programmes. Examples include:‣ Front loadingPrevious programmes to resettle largenumbers of people in the UK have beencharacterised by ‘front loading’, whichinvolves focusing on providing all theinformation and integration ‘tools’ refugeesP 6 P United States Committee for Refugees (2003)‘UNHCR faces funding cuts.’ Refugee Reports 24 (1)need when they first arrive. This has beenbalanced with a desire for the receptionstage to remain short-term to avoidprotracted welfare reliance. Consequently,in the past, resettled refugees have sufferedfrom an absence of assistance beyondreception. 7 The structure of the Bosnian andKosovan programmes learnt from this andprovided mid-term support teams indispersal areas and improved interactionwith mainstream services.‣ Employment readinessA focus on housing provision in manyresettlement programmes has made it moredifficult for refugees to find employment.Research suggests that dispersal strategieshave not been based on thorough analysis ofthe local labour market. This is in contrastto other resettlement countries, whereemployment readiness is placed at the coreof refugee independence.‣ Refugee Community Organisations(RCOs)When resettled refugees leave receptionfacilities, RCOs can act as a social buffer andinformation translator in a receivingcommunity. They also offer a bridgebetween the refugees’ private and publicspheres. In past refugee programmes therehave been examples of locating clusters ofresettled populations near to pre-existingethnic communities. There is debate as towhether this actually fosters communitydevelopment or in fact creates situation ofresource competition between RCOs. 8P 7 P Hale, S. (1993) ‘The reception and resettlementof Vietnamese Refugees in Britain.’ In V. Robinson (ed)The international refugee crisis: British and Canadianresponses. London: MacmillanP 8 P Kelly, L. (2003) ‘Bosnian refugees in Britain:questioning community’. Sociology 37 (1) pp. 35-49Factsheet - Key issues: Resettlement programmes and the UK (October 2005) © ICAR 2005.

‣ Increase refugee engagementService provision within resettlementprogrammes has been primarily organised ona top-down basis. Research suggests thatwhen services are delivered as part of anational programme they can sometimes beunresponsive and unable to adjust to localneeds. This organisational schema does notappear to engage with refugees and theirexperiences in the process of their ownintegration. Research on Bosnian refugees inItaly show that resettled refugees can developmeaningful social networks to aid their ownintegration. 9Resettlement Inter-AgencyPartnership (RIAP)A group of NGOs make up the RIAP, whichis responsible for service delivery under theGateway programme:• British Red Cross;• International Rescue Committee;• Migrant Helpline;• Refugee Action;• Refugee Arrivals Project;• Refugee Council;• Refugee Housing Association; and• Scottish Refugee Council.The Gateway ProtectionProgrammeThis programme has endeavoured to learn fromthe difficulties of previous resettlementprogrammes and forms the basis futureresettlement policy in the UK.The Home Office maintains a central co-ordinatingrole in this programme but responsibility for itspractical implementation has been delegated to arange of organisations. Also, criteria for the areasto which resettled refugees are dispersed nowinclude more than just the availability of housing:local NGO involvement, racial tolerance,employment opportunities and the presence ofexisting RCOs are some of the extra factors takeninto account.P 9 P Korac, M. (2001) HUPresentation at ‘Bridgingthe information gaps: a conference of research onasylum and immigration in the UK’UH, 21 March2001, London. Available atHUhttp://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/irssconf21301.pdfUHMany of these agencies have been involvedin previous programmes and so theirinvolvement builds on expertise andrelationships developed in previousinitiatives.A development of the Gateway programme hasbeen for refugees to participate in a four-daycultural orientation programme prior todeparture to the UK. Also, on arrival refugeesare no longer accommodated in large-scale sitesbut more frequently in hotels near airports,where further orientation sessions areprovided. 10Responsibility for settlement and support ofrefugees resettled under the Gatewayprogramme differs according to the areaconcerned, with organisations such as theRefugee Council and Refugee Action beingresponsible for specific areas. Refugees areP 10 P The four day sessions are run by theHUInternational Rescue CommitteeUH; TheHURefugee Arrival Project UHand MigrantHelpline organise the further orientation sessionsFactsheet - Key issues: Resettlement programmes and the UK (October 2005) © ICAR 2005.

supported by a combination of mainstream welfareprovision and individualised settlement plans. Thelevel of provision is more intensive early in theresettlement, but is provided for at least the firsttwelve months. Housing is provided by the localresettlement agency and in their first few weeks,refugees are referred to the Job Centre Plus andassisted in registering with a GP and opening abank account.Initial findings from a Liberian group resettled inSheffield found that after six weeks the majority ofthe children were attending school, most adultswere also attending language and computercourses, and all had been able to access healthservices. 11The Home Office is conducting longitudinalresearch into settlement and integrationexperiences of gateway refugees through theImmigration Research and Statistics Service (IRSS).This consists of regular interviews with resettledrefugees over the age of sixteen. It is intended thatthe findings will inform future programmedevelopment and wider integration strategies. TheHome Office also intends to carry out apreliminary evaluation of the Gateway programmein 2005.Resettlement statisticsResettled refugees are not included in UK asylumstatistics as they do not go through the asylumsystem. Every year, around 310 individuals aretypically admitted under the Mandate Refugees andTen or More programmes. The InternationalOrganization for Migration (IOM) estimates that in2000 and 2001 the UK received 429 and 420refugees and family members through theseP 11 P Home Office (November 2004) UnderstandingGateway: the Gateway Protection Programme for refugees.London: Home OfficeUNHCR programmes and other IOM facilitatedarrangements. 12Examples of international figuresBelow are selected statistics from the UNHCR’sbasic programme information. They areindicative of the complications involved ininternational comparison.• Australia Quota for July 2003-June 2004was 10,991. At the end of January 20044,255 visas for these programmes had beengranted. In 2002/2003 11,656 visas forthese programmes were granted.• Canada Quota for 2003 was 10,400-11,700 (inclusive of government assistedprogrammes) and 10,762 refugees wereaccepted in that year.• Finland Quota for 2003 was 750 and 748refugees were accepted of which 562 hadarrived in the country (yet 482 were fromthe 2002 quota).• New Zealand Quota for July 2003-June2004 was 750 and 196 were accepted.• Sweden Quota for 2004 was 1,700 and bythe end of February 2004 300 had beenaccepted of which 35 had arrived.• United States of America Quota forOctober 2003-September 2004 was 50,000(with 20,000reserve places). By endFebruary 2004 14,403 had arrived. In the2003 fiscal year 28,455 refugees wereacceptedFrom UNHCR Easy guide on refugee resettlementprograms 2003/2004P 12 P IOM (2003) HU‘Global trends in resettlement:comparing the UK with other countries’UH in ’ inGelsthorpe, V. and Herlitz, L. (eds) Listening toevidence: the future of UK resettlement. Conferenceproceedings. London: Home Office. Available athttp://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/resettlement.pdf.Factsheet - Key issues: Resettlement programmes and the UK (October 2005) © ICAR 2005.

The quota for the Gateway Protection Programmeoffered a maximum of 500 places in fiscal years of2003/2004 and 2004/2005. At the end of June2005, 121 refugees had been settled in Sheffield(Liberian and Burmese) and 81 refugees had beensettled in Bolton (Congolese and Liberian).Making international comparisons of resettlementdata is a difficult task. Each resettlement countryoperates a number of different schemes, somethrough the UNHCR, some autonomously. As aresult, a number of organisations collectresettlement data but it is difficult to aggregate asdifferent countries use different procedures tocollect the data. For example some countriescollect data across the fiscal year and othersacross the calendar year. Also, some countriesfocus on their annual quotas rather than the actualnumber of arrivals.ResourcesA full discussion of these issues and concepts isprovided in ICAR’s Navigation guide toresettlement and the UK available at:www.icar.org.uk/navigationguidesThe navigation guide includes a full list ofresources and projects. Some examples ofadditional resources to those already listed orhighlighted elsewhere in the Factsheet are givenbelow.Gelsthorpe, V. and Herlitz, L. (eds) (2003)Listening to evidence: the future of UK resettlement.Conference proceedings. London: Home Office.Home Office (November 2004) UnderstandingGateway: the Gateway Protection Programme forrefugees. London: Home Office.Kerrigan, S. (2003) 'Resettling Refugees' InExile,issue 28, November 2003.Refugee Council (July 2004) The GatewayProtection Programme: Refugee Resettlement in theUKT. London: Refugee Council.Resettlement Inter-Agency Partnership(RIAP) (October 2004) Welcome to the UK - Afirst step. London: Refugee Council.Robinson, V. (1999) 'The evolution of refugeeresettlement policy in post-war Britain', in V.Robinson (ed.) Migration and Public Policy.Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Robinson, V. and C. Coleman (2000)'Lessons learned? A critical review of thegovernment programme to resettle Bosnianquota refugees in the United Kingdom'.International Migration Review 34 (4) pp.1217-1244.Spack. T. (2001) ‘Global Overview: refugeeresettlement and integration models andmethods’, from the International Conference onthe Reception and Integration of ResettledRefugees, Sweden.Hale, S. (1993) 'The reception and resettlementof Vietnamese Refugees in Britain.' In V. Robinson(ed) The international refugee crisis: British andCanadian responses. London: Macmillan.Author of factsheet: Gareth MorrellFactsheet - Key issues: Resettlement programmes and the UK (October 2005) © ICAR 2005.