The United States can expand resettlement options by establishing, through the refugee program, a family reunification mechanism enabling Syrian Americans to bring extended family to safety more quickly.
The United States is in a position to help by swiftly expanding resettlement and encouraging other donor states to follow its example.
European governments and the EU can and should do more to help the inadvertent victims of the Arab spring, expanding resettlement for Somalis and other double refugees, and offering them the security that many have lacked for years.
These might also include policies that expand resettlement in the global north (e.g., in accordance with economic capacity), that redistribute resources within the global north toward resident refugee populations (e.g., through commitments from large private sector firms in conjunction with other financial mechanisms), and other, new, more equitable, burden-sharing mechanisms in the global north.
"We are committed to protecting Central Americans at risk and expanding resettlement opportunities in the region," the statement said.
In 2002 renewed efforts were made to expand the resettlement base and to encourage receiving countries to diversify their resettlement intake, increase the level of their quotas, and allow for flexible allocation of their quotas by region, country, or population.
Instead, the British government has moved in the opposite direction, resisting calls to expand its resettlement program, cutting the number of visas given to people from war-battered countries and spending millions on enhanced security at Calais, the French port where thousands of migrants have gathered to try to stow away on British-bound trucks.
As Human Rights First explains, the United States can and should expand its resettlement program in Lebanon.
David Cameron said the UK's expanded vulnerable person resettlement scheme would take 4,000 refugees a year over the next five years, a total of 20,000.
In September, the EU resettlement plan expanded to 160,000 people, but aid agencies complained the scheme was being implemented too slowly and the new number was inadequate given the volume of people arriving.
