The Diplomat
The Government pledged yesterday to resettle 1,200 refugees throughout the year, including 23 families of Syrian nationality who are in Turkey in dire need because of the earthquakes that have affected the two countries.
The Council of Ministers yesterday approved the National Program for the Resettlement of Refugees in Spain for the year 2023, by which Spain undertakes to take in a maximum of 1,200 refugees over the course of the current year. According to the Executive’s data, in 2022, the year in which the target was also set at a maximum of 1,200 people, the degree of compliance reached 92.6%, with the resettlement of 1,112 people in Spain, the vast majority Syrians from Lebanon (1,039).
The Council of Ministers approves annually the National Resettlement Programs, which offer protection to refugees from countries affected by conflicts and serious humanitarian crises. The Spanish Government’s commitment to this program is included in the global resettlement priorities identified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Union, and the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration is responsible for providing reception within the framework of the International Protection Reception System.
The Ministry of Inclusion promotes, in addition to the reception of these families in resources of the state network, their full accompaniment through the gradual implementation of Community Sponsorship programs, in collaboration with UNHCR and different autonomous communities. The reception system is articulated around its own places (in the Refugee Reception Centers -CAR-) and centers managed by entities with state funding.
Last January 31, within the framework of the National Resettlement Plan 2022, staff of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration received at Barajas Airport 110 resettled Syrian nationals from Lebanon.
As part of the resettlements planned under this year’s program, and in response to the urgent appeal made by UNHCR Turkey, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration is bringing in the coming weeks a first group of 23 families (a total of 126 people) of Syrian nationality who are in Turkey in dire need following the earthquakes that have affected the two countries.
The operation, involving different ministries, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), will be completed in early March, when the refugees can be safely transferred from the Gaziantep area to Istanbul, from where they will be flown to Spain.
