Geneva: The United Nation's refugee body
estimates it will need to resettle some 172,300 refugees in
2011, it announced in a latest report.
The figure, an "informed assessment" rather than a
detailed count, represents a little over 1 per cent of the
15.2 million refugees worldwide.
The report released yesterday also said it expected some
805,000 refugees will need resettlement during the next five
years.
In 2009, the last year with complete figures, the Office
of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said it submitted
over 128,000 resettlement applications. Only 84,600
applications were approved, 62,000 of them by the US.
The expected increase mostly represents a better capacity
to determine refugees' needs, UNHCR Director of International
Protection Volker Turk said during a briefing.
Refugee resettlement consists of allowing a refugee --
defined as an individual who crosses an international border
to flee persecution -- to leave the host country for a third
country.
In 2009, over 70 per cent of these refugee resettlement
applications were from nationals of Iraq, Myanmar and Bhutan,
the report said.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, July 06, 2010, 14:55