European Union member states that volunteer to accept third-country refugees could receive up to 6000 euro for each resettled person under a draft EU law amended by the European Parliament on May 18 2010.
 
EU member states currently contribute far less to refugee resettlement than do other developed countries such as the United States, Australia and Canada.
 
MEPs also approved the setting up of a European Asylum Support Office, following an agreement reached with the European Council, the European Parliament said in a media statement.
 
The EU contributed to only 6.7 per cent of the global resettlement of refugees in 2008, with 4378 individuals.
 
The UN High Commission on Refugees estimates that 747 000 are in need of resettlement. To date, only 10 EU member states have taken part in any resettlement schemes.
 
To encourage more EU states to help in resettlement, MEPs are proposing that they should receive funding of 6000 euro a person for the first year for member states applying for the first time, 5000 euro in the second year and 4000 euro thereafter.
 
The additional amount that newly participating member states receive for the first two years must be invested in developing a sustainable resettlement programme.
 
The programme seeks to resettle in the EU individuals who have been granted refugee status in third countries (for example, Iraqi refugees in Syria), the European Parliament media statement said.
 
It will follow a number of EU priorities, about which the European Parliament and the European Council have yet to agree. 
 
"MEPs wish priority to go to children and women at risk of violence or exploitation, unaccompanied minors, persons with serious medical needs, and survivors of violence and torture. The Council wishes to establish priorities according to the geographic origin and nationality of refugees," the statement said.
 
The European Parliament also approved the creation of a European Asylum Support Office when it adopted a second-reading report by UK Greens MEP Jean Lambert.
 
Based in Valletta, Malta, the office will lend its expertise to member states receiving asylum seekers, the statement said.
 
"It will seek to strengthen co-operation among national authorities and afford administrative support to member states subject to particular pressure," according to the statement.
 
The European Parliament and the European Council agreed at second reading to assign the office the task of co-ordinating information exchange on resettlement measures carried out by member states.
 
An EU decision establishing a European Refugee Fund is expected to be amended to ensure that it is adequately funded, when MEPs vote on May 19 2010 on a report by Claude Moraes (S&D, UK) on this matter.
 
On April 30 2010, UNHCR head António Guterres urged EU members to serve as examples of the proper treatment of refugees and to forge a cohesive regional response to new forms of forced displacement, including population movement caused by the effects of climate change.
 
Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels, Guterres said that in the 27-member EU, where internal borders have largely disappeared, people seeking protection should be able to find it.

He said that the number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide has remained relatively stable in recent years, as has the number of asylum applicants reaching industrialised countries. He attributed the trend to little change in the number of conflicts and the difficulty of ending them.
 
"Crises are either not solved or – once solved – quickly slip back into instability or even open war," the UN News Service quoted him as saying.
 
Guterres said that the number of refugees that the UNHCR was able to help to return to their homes last year fell to below 400 000, less than half the number of people helped to go back home in 2008.
 
He voiced concern over the increasing difficulty faced by humanitarian agencies trying to deliver assistance to refugees and IDPs.
 
"In many parts of the world, we see growing threats to the security of humanitarian workers, including our own," he said.
 
He also drew attention to the numerous interlinked causes of forced displacement.
 
"Climate change is an accelerating factor for displacement and instability, but water scarcity, food security, population growth and urbanisation can all trigger conflict," he said.
 
He said that the UNHCR had no plans to seek a revision of the 1951 Refugee Convention, but expressed the agency’s interest in becoming a catalyst for a debate about how to deal with the human rights impacts of forced displacement this century.
 
"We need to find integrated approaches and we hope that the EU will help in this," he told MEPs.
 
Commenting on asylum in the European context, Guterres said that while states had the right and duty to manage their borders and to define their migration policies, they must do so in a way which respects international law.
 
There must be safeguards, he said, to ensure that asylum-seekers have access to territories and procedures where their claims can be examined.
 
He lamented the fact that, at present, many of those in need of international protection have little choice but to enter the EU by irregular means and, in so doing, may fall victim to smugglers and human traffickers.
 
The rejection rate of asylum claims of people of one nationality can vary from 95 per cent in one country to near zero in another, he said, depending where the claim is made.
 
"This is a dysfunctional situation, leading people to move irregularly within the (European) Union," he said.
 
Guterres thanked the European Commission and the EU member states for their consistent support of UNHCR’s work, noting that together they provided more than 40 per cent of the refugee agency’s annual budget.