Germany will continue to work to help refugees on the ground in future, or to open up legal options for them to enter Germany. "We are doing this in cooperation with the UNHCR all round Syria," said Chancellor Angela Merkel, but also with a view to Libya and the Lake Chad region. Germany will also take in 10,000 refugees under the EU’s resettlement programme.

The resettlement programme involves relocating individuals in need of protection. Refugees having already requested protection in one country will be relocated permanently to another country. This is necessary when the refugees cannot be expected to remain in the first country. This procedure is used to enable a certain number of individuals in non-EU member states to enter the EU every year. The individuals are always proposed by UNHCR.

Germany second largest donor

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi praised the support and commitment of the German government and thanked Germany for the financial support it extends to UN organisations including UNHCR and the World Food Programme. He reported that Germany was the second largest donor in 2017; only the USA gave more. Germany’s financial contribution has tripled over the last three to four years. "Germany is an important example which we hope many others will follow," declared the High Commissioner for Refugees.

UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) was founded in 1951 by the General Assembly of the United Nations in order to help millions of European refugees in the wake of the Second World War. It is headed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Filippo Grandi has held this post since 1 January 2016.