18/12/2023 (Agence Europe) – The European Union made a collective pledge of an additional 61,000 resettlement and humanitarian admission places for 2024 and 2025 following last week’s Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, announced the European Commission on 18 December to mark International Migrants Day. This pledge paves the way for “61,000 new places combined for resettlement and humanitarian admission for people in need of international protection, of which 31,000 are for resettlement (to be implemented in close cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and 30,000 are for humanitarian admission”. Member States have welcomed 119,000 refugees since 2015 via EU resettlement programmes, the Commission added. (SP)