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Internationally Assisted Migration: ICEM Rounds Out Five Years of Resettlement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Edward Marks
Edward Marks
Affiliation:
Deputy in Charge of the New York Office of ICEM
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Extract

A new kind of “DP” plagued the conscience of the west after the Displaced Person of World War II had become an historical phenomenon. It was the “Disinherited Person”, the national of overcrowded western Europe who was surplus to the economy in which he lived but who, with international planning and assistance, might become a “plus” person in less densely settled areas overseas. In an effort to alleviate this problem of over-population in western Europe a new agency, the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM), was created and began operations on February I, 1952. Since that time, more than 570,000 Europeans who needed assistance in migrating have been moved to new homelands by the 27-nation ICEM, representing 36 percent of the total emigration from the main European emigration countries (Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands). Apart from numbers moved directly, the Committee's efforts have stimulated spontaneous emigration by opening or widening new areas of resettlement.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , summer 1957 , pp. 481 - 494
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1957

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References

1 This figure does not include the 139,531 new Hungarian refugees moved up to June 7, 1957.

2 Taft, Donald R. and Robbins, Richard, International Migrations, New York, The Ronald Press Co., 1955Google Scholar.

3 Enabling Resolution to establish a Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe, Brussels, December 5, 1951.

4 Enabling Resolution, cited above.

5 Constitution of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration, Chapter II, b. Adopted at 72d meeting, Geneva, November 30, 1954.

6 Modern Migration—A Challenge to the West, The Hague, Research Group for European Migration Problems, 1954Google Scholar.

7 Report of the Director for 1956.

8 Enabling Resolution, cited above.

9 DrJacobsen, Pierre: “The Work and Experience of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration”, for the International Economic Association's Round Table on International Migration at Kitzbuhel, 09 1955Google Scholar.

10 An indication of the scope and diversity of ICEM's transportation arrangements can be seen in a random sample from ICEM's movement log. On a single day, January 1, 1955, close to 20,000 migrants were preparing for movement, already en route by sea and air, or just arrived in their new homelands.

On that day, 55 refugees from Trieste emplaned at Milan for Australia on a KLM Skymaster; 500 Greek migrants left Piraeus for Australia on the “Arosa Kulm”, which had already embarked 350 Maltese migrants on December 30, and 46 Greek and German migrants boarded the “Scythia” at Le Havre for Canada.

More than 8,500 European migrants celebrated the New Year on other vessels or planes en route to their new homelands. Among 6,025 bound for Australia were 240 migrants on four planes which had left Berlin, Malta and Milan the last day of December. Other voyagers included 1,419 to Argentina, 657 to Venezuela, 224 to Brazil, and others to Paraguay, Chile, South Africa and the United States.

One hundred and ten migrants from Germany, Malta and Trieste who had landed by plane in Australia on the 31st were spending their first day at a Government Reception Center. Also in reception centers awaiting placement or on their way to destinations in immigration countries were 4,500 other Europeans whose migration had been assisted by ICEM: 1,372 in Argentina, 3,126 in Australia, 398 in Brazil, 95 in Canada, 45 in Chile, 374 in Venezuela, 70 in Uruguay, and 12 in other countries.

Finally, back in Europe, there were approximately 5,000 migrants actually poised in embarkation centers or being given their final processing: 1,300 Italians destined for Argentina; 2,600 Austrians, Germans, Greeks, Maltese and refugees awaiting movement to Australia; 450 Austrians, Greeks and Italians being readied for Brazil; and smaller contingents of the above nationalities making their final preparations for Chile, Canada, Venezuela and the United States.

11 The 1957 Operational Budget was set at $41,169,812 by the Council at its October 1956 meeting. However, higher costs resulting from the Hungarian refugee crisis and the closing of the Suez Canal required upward revision, and the Administration put a revised estimate of $49,368,822 before the Council session scheduled for April 1957.