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By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Just 1.6% of the 1.44 million people with refugee status who were prioritized for resettlement in another country of asylum last year found new homes through the UN agency. UN for refugees, the lowest number in nearly two decades, it said Monday.
The drop to 22,770 admissions was due to lower quotas set by recipient countries, limited flights and processing delays during the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. In 2019, it resettled 63,696 refugees who needed to be transferred from one country of asylum to another.
“We can only hope that 2020 will be an extreme anomaly for refugee resettlement. We urge governments to boost their programs this year, offer more venues, streamline case processing, and help us save the lives of the most. needy and to a greater extent. ” risk, “Gillian Triggs, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, said in a statement.
Refugees from Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar were the largest groups resettled in 2020.
The United States resettled the largest number of refugees last year, 6,740, but this was less than a third of the 21,159 it admitted in 2019, UNHCR figures show.
President Joe Biden has said he would raise the limit for refugees resettled to the United States from abroad to 125,000 from the historic low of 15,000 set by his predecessor Donald Trump for this U.S. fiscal year that began in October.
Sweden and Canada ranked second and third last year, resettling 3,543 and 3,496 refugees respectively through UNHCR programs.
The vast majority of the world’s 26.4 million total refugees who have fled wars and persecution remain in neighboring countries, but the most vulnerable and those with special needs are prioritized for resettlement. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, Ed Osmond editing)
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