On November 7, the European Commission launched a new high level committee to address resettlement and humanitarian admissions. The committee is intended to plan resettlement commissions for the years 2026 and 2027.
The European Commission has launched a new High-Level Committee on Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission.
According to a press statement, "The High-Level Committee will support the Commission in implementing the Union Framework Regulation, which provides a permanent and harmonized framework for resettlement and humanitarian admission to the EU. This regulation enhances safe and legal pathways to the EU for people from non-EU countries seeking protection."
The committee met for the first time on November 7 in the Berlaymont building in Brussels. The committee is one of the results of the new Migration and Asylum Pact launched by the European Parliament and Commission last spring.
The committee aims to help member states offer humanitarian corridors to vulnerable individuals.
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Composition of new committee
The new body is composed of delegates from the interior ministries of member states as well as representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and the European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA).
The Commission said that the concept behind the committee was based on experience gleaned from resettlement plans that began in 2015 and have helped over 119,000 people in need of international protection find refuge in the EU.
The committee is set to work on the Commission's next two year plan to determine the numbers of refugees to be admitted to the EU, "and the countries and regions from which resettlements and humanitarian admissions should take place." The two years are expected to cover 2026 and 2027.
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Greens representative urges action to aid refugees
Italian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Leoluca Orlando -- a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs for the Greens grouping in the parliament, and sole official representative for the European Parliament -- noted during his speech that, according to UNHCR predictions, in 2025 there will be three million refugees in need of resettlement.
This figure alone, he said, highlights the need for the quality of resettlement to be addressed and for the process to be speeded up. He added that the quota for recognizing and protecting refugees must be increased in third countries, which host a large number of them, and that aid and support should be provided to lighten their burden and show "solidarity" with them for their humanitarian efforts.
Another crucial aspect, Orlando added, is to flank resettlement efforts with investment in reception and integration activities to ensure the best possible conditions are created for refugees to become an integral part of the community as quickly as possible.