| 19th
May 2005
UNHCR
Welcomes Sheffield Acceptance of Resettled Refugees
More
than 50 refugees from Myanmar have arrived in the UK as part of
a joint Government/UNHCR resettlement initiative aimed at helping
long term refugees with protection problems in their country of
first asylum.
A
group of 25 refugees are currently undergoing several days of briefing
and induction courses outside London before being transferred to
Sheffield next week. Earlier this week a further group of 26 Myanmarese
were transferred to Sheffield under the programme organised in co-operation
with the city authorities.
The
Myanmarese arrival at Heathrow airport is a continuation of the
UK’s programme and commitment under the Gateway scheme to
resettle 500 refugees in Britain each year. Most of the Myanmarese
arriving this week are women and children.
Christian
Mahr, UNHCR Deputy Representative in London said: “The UN
refugee agency is grateful to Sheffield Council for offering places
to the Myanmarese and encourages other British communities to participate
in the joint UK/UN Gateway scheme.”
Until
arriving in the UK the refugees have resided for most of the last
decade in closed refugee camps along Thailand’s western border
with Myanmar. There are more than 120,000 refugees in Thailand who
have fled persecution in Myanmar. The majority of the Gateway arrivals
are ethnic Karen but also included ethnic Royhinga.
This
week’s arrivals brings to more than 200 the number of people
brought to the UK under the joint Government/UNHCR Gateway Protection
Programme. Since its inception in 2003, the Home Office managed
Gateway Scheme has resettled refugees from war-torn Liberia, Sudan,
Congo and now Myanmar.
Reception
and short-term accommodation for the new arrivals in Sheffield are
provided by UNHCR partners which include the Refugee Arrivals Project,
Migrant Helpline and Refugee Council.
In
2003 more than 53,000 refugees were resettled in the United States,
Australia, Canada, The Netherlands and Sweden.
Ends
Note
to Editor:
For
further information on the UK Resettlement Scheme, please go to:
http://www.unhcr.org.uk/resettlement/
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