TNAG-1528-FCO40-2092-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1986 — Page 104

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ICM'S EMIGRATION PROGRAMMES FROM EL SALVADOR

Within the context of its activities in Central America on behalf of refugees and displaced persons, ICM extended its services to El Salvador as of 1982 with a view to providing assistance to two groups of internally displaced persons who had sought refuge in churches in San Salvador. These two groups, mainly composed of women and children victims of civil strife, had lived over a year in precarious conditions in these churches and ICM, in cooperation with the Salvadorian Church and the authorities concerned, developed and financed a project for their resettlement in Nicaragua.

Later, in 1983, following the promulgation of the Amnesty Law under which the Government of El Salvador released political prisoners, ICM sent a special team to San Salvador to assist those beneficiaries who expressed the wish to be resettled in overseas countries as refugees. The special mission of ICM took place in response to a request from the Government of El Salvador and following consultations ICM had previously held with certain countries of resettlement as well as with the local Church. The programme began in June 1983, with cases being processed and moved by ICM to Canada and Australia. Subsequently, a number of countries, including Sweden, the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium and Austria, also made available resettlement offers to ICM.

Since 1983, Salvadorians have continued to seek resettlement, many with compelling reasons for family reunification or as economic migrants, some still for motives related to their security in El Salvador. The ICM Mission in San Salvador has maintained and further developed its migration services on behalf of these persons, including the initial screening of all applicants, the preparation of individual resettlement dossiers, arrangements for interviews with visiting selection teams of immigration officials for whom ICM furnishes interpreting services as necessary, medical examinations, obtaining exit permits and "safe conducts" as well as all operational and financial arrangements to ensure the physical movement by the most direct and safest

means.

This activity has evolved over the years into a substantive part of the work of the ICM Mission in San Salvador, which today receives close to 8,000 visits per quarter from persons wishing to emigrate. Since 1983, ICM has thus assisted some 3,500 Salvadorians in their emigration to overseas countries, enabling them to achieve self-dependence and a new life abroad.