Resettlement is the transfer of refugees to a country that is neither the migrant's country of origin nor the country where he or she sought refuge. Resettling refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs) implies that a state is willing to transport (often for thousands of kilometers), greet, and facilitate the integration of foreigners in its territory.
Of the three solutions to forced displacement - repatriation to the home country, local integration in the host country, or resettlement in a third country - the last is the least practiced.
The financial burden of such operations means that resettlement countries will most likely be Western nations, whose immigration policies have gradually become more restrictive since the end of the colonial era in the 1960s. Some countries are currently emerging as new resettlement destinations, among them Ireland, Iceland and Spain in Europe, and Chile, Brazil and Argentina in South America.
According to the UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency, nine governments currently host the bulk of people who are annually resettled in new countries: the United States, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark and The Netherlands, in decreasing order. In 2003, African refugees continued to remain the largest caseload in UNHCR-assisted resettlement programmers (57 percent), followed by refugees from the Middle East (35 percent) and Asia/Oceania (4 percent). A total of 28,255 refugees departed for resettlement in 2003, representing an increase of 34 percent compared to 2002 figures.
There are several explanations for the traditional reluctance of the West to open its borders to foreign refugees. Immigration policy - and therefore resettlement prospects for forced migrants - usually depends on domestic political issues. In the face of the economic crises of the 1970s, and the subsequent high unemployment rates in the West, immigration has become an electoral issue, often manipulated by populist politicians.
Despite this, some Western nations operate a select policy of refugee resettlement. UNHCR figures for 2003 show that 55,520 refugees were resettled in the United States of America (51 percent), Australia (21 percent) and Canada (19 percent), accounting for more than 90 percent of resettlements.
Resettlement, the American way
The possibilities for resettlement in the US, offered to specific ethnic groups from sub-Saharan African countries by different American administrations, highlight the selective nature of such programmers.
The inhabitants of countries south of the Sahara sometimes see themselves as two diverse groups: "African of Arab descent" northerners, as opposed to "Black African" southerners. Although many argue that such a division is artificial, it has time and again been used for political purposes in Sahelian countries along the southern edge of the Sahara.
At the western end of the Sahara, after a border clash between nomadic Mauritanian pastoralists and Senegalese farmers in 1989, the Mauritanian "Arab" government expelled thousands of "Black Africans" from the Fulani ethnic group into Senegal.
In Somalia, at the eastern end of the same desert, Bantu Africans have for years been treated as slave labor, after being forcibly abducted from the coasts of what is now Mozambique and Tanzania.
West of Somalia in Sudan, violent civil war has pitched the "Arab" northerners, led by Khartoum, against the "Christian and Animist" southerners during most of the time since its independence in 1956.
Mauritanian Fulani, Somali Bantus and Sudanese Southerners have all been deemed eligible for resettlement programmers in the US.
Some US officials are privately candid that resettlement possibilities for designated groups are often the result of political choices. Christian and other specific interest groups and constituencies may lobby Congress and the administration of the day to grant protection to ethnic groups they deem to be persecuted.
The Department of State designates which groups of individuals and refugees are eligible for resettlement schemes. Criteria apply: the candidates for resettlement must be refugees (i.e., they have left their country of origin), demonstrate that they are being persecuted and unable or unwilling to go home, and cannot stay permanently in the host country, in this case, Kenya. (See No Place to Call Home - Obstacles to Refugee Integration in Kenya).
According to a long-time observer of American resettlement schemes, another reason explains the choice of these populations to benefit from resettlement. "It's simply supply and demand: as the influx of Bosnian refugees after the war in ex-Yugoslavia, and the influx of Jewish and Evangelical Christians from Eastern Europe eventually dried up after the end of the Cold War, the United States turned to other refugee-producing countries to fill their immigration quotas," he told IRIN.
Logistics of a new life
The resettlement of the Somali Bantus to the US is an illustrative case study of the complexity of the process.
Somali Bantus Refugees started pouring into Kenya when the civil war in Somalia erupted in 1991. They were originally confined to the Daadab refugee camp in the arid north-eastern district of Garissa, which still shelters 138, 000 refugees today, according to the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP). However, as they kept being persecuted by non-Bantu Somalis in Daadab, they were moved to Kakuma refugee camp in north-western Kenya.
In Kakuma the 15,000 Somali Bantus underwent identification and registration. Registration is made on the basis of physical features, as Somali Bantus supposedly have darker skins than other Somalis, and of the language spoken. Information is then cross-checked, with testimony from other Bantus confirming family ties and social relations, to flush out 'free-riders'.
Screening is conducted by American officials of the former Immigration and Naturalization Services, now the Department of Homeland Security.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), an intergovernmental organization working with migrants and governments, implements the resettlement scheme under a mandate from the American Department of State.
The entire resettlement process takes a couple of months from start to finish.
Somali Bantus are flown from Kakuma camp to Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. For most of them, this is the first time they have boarded a plane, and their eerie silence as they walk onto Lokichokio airport's tarmac (about 100 km from Kakuma camp) attests to their anxiety before the two-hour flight.
At the IOM offices in Nairobi, refugees undergo a medical check-up and are taken through the immigration paperwork. Their rights and obligations as resettled refugees in the United States are explained to them. Most sign their papers by dipping a thumb in ink while they are told that "khat" - the natural amphetamine traditionally chewed in Somalia - is an illegal narcotic in the US.
Pindie Stephen, the Regional Cultural Orientation Coordinator for IOM, supervises the classroom sessions at a summer-camp-like barracks, flying an American flag and decorated with large maps of the world, where Somali Bantus are "culturally orientated".
In groups of about 10, refugees are taken through the basics of life in America, from using a freezer and a shower - which most refugees have never used before - to learning about American employment regulations and opportunities. According to Stephen, resettlement from Somalia and Kenyan refugee camps to the US is the cultural equivalent "of taking someone from the 18th century and catapulting him or her into the 21st century".
According to Stephen, the main challenges Somali Bantus face when arriving in the US are to learn to schedule their lives on an hourly basis, which can be quite stressful, and adjust to an urban environment. It takes most refugees a while to adapt to the contrast between the camps and American city life. For instance, they will be required by American law to supervise their children at all times, while in Kakuma children roam freely and play without much supervision.
The Somali Bantus are flown aboard commercial jets in groups of 30 to 40, escorted by personnel trained to help them cope with the shock of their first transcontinental flight, which costs USD 800 for each adult and around USD 100 per child. Resettled refugees are expected to pay this back once they are employed in the US.
Although they cannot choose their final destination in the US, refugees will preferably be located in areas where they can rely on family ties, for example where siblings have previously been resettled. The choice of location also depends on the facilitation offered by American resettlement agencies working in partnership with the government.
On arrival at their final destination, they are provided with furnished accommodation and food for 30 days, and enrolled in classes to learn English as a second language. All children are immediately registered in schools. "The kids will pick up the language faster than their parents, they will be the real success story," Stephen says.
During 2004, 15, 400 refugees were flown to the US. IOM estimates that the entire group of Somali Bantus will have been relocated by the end of 2005, and begin the real journey towards permanent integration in a new world.
Of the three solutions to forced displacement, resettlement is clearly the one option for which demand exceeds supply. It is the hardest and most costly durable solution to the plight of refugees, but is often the preferred way out of exile for refugees who have no home to return to.
Many refugees have little appreciation of the social, economic and psychological difficulties involved in adjusting to a western society. Children often have to face serious questions of personal identity, feeling neither entirely at home in Western culture, nor in that of their parents. (See IRIN Web Special on Separated Somali Children)