IOM's Helsinki regional office yesterday took over responsibility
for supporting the resettlement of several thousand refugees every
year to the Nordic countries. Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden
are among the most important resettlement countries for refugees
and migrants worldwide.

IOM arranges the logistics at the point of departure, transit
and destination for refugee and migrant resettlement. It also
prepares refugees and migrants for their new life through cultural
orientation and medical screening.

Since the summer of 2005, IOM has been working on formalizing
its long-standing cooperation with the Nordic countries concerning
refugee resettlement and family reunification.

The identification of IOM Helsinki as IOM’s Nordic
Resettlement Centre follows the signing of cooperation agreements
with the governments of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The new Centre will enable IOM to provide more streamlined and
efficient resettlement processing for the benefit of refugees and
migrants, as well as sponsoring governments and other partners. The
Centre in Helsinki will oversee resettlement activities to the
Nordic countries performed by IOM missions all over the world.

For more information, please contact:

Christine Adam

IOM Helsinki

Tel. +358-50-9-684 11 50

Email: "mailto:cadam@iom.int">cadam@iom.int