皇冠体育app

At the Sheffield聽project, Mr Green heard more about the lives of the more than 3,300 people safely settled across the country through the , since it began in 2002.

皇冠体育app programme is run by the UK Border Agency in partnership with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. It brings up to 750 particularly vulnerable refugees to the UK every year from refugee camps and urban areas around the world.

Proud tradition of protection

Damian Green said: 鈥樆使谔逵齛pp UK has a proud tradition of helping those who need our protection and of giving genuine refugees the support they need to start a new life in the UK.

鈥業鈥檓 delighted today to have met some of the refugees who have benefited from this scheme and to hear about the significant contribution they have made to life in the UK.鈥�

Life changing

In their first year in the UK, the refugees receive the support they need to integrate into British life, including housing, healthcare and education provided through partner agencies such as the Refugee Council and local authorities including Sheffield City Council.

Mr Green met refugees including Esther Freeman, a Liberian who had been living in a refugee camp in Guinea for 20 years until, in 2004, she came to Sheffield as part of the first intake of Gateway refugees.

She said: 鈥業 would never have lived peacefully without the Gateway Protection Programme.聽

鈥業 couldn鈥檛 be more grateful to the UK government and the Refugee Council for their support. 皇冠体育app Gateway programme has changed my family鈥檚 life.鈥�

This year is a milestone in the global effort to support refugees, as 2011 marks the 60th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention, the key legal document in defining who is a refugee, their rights and states鈥� legal obligations.

, which this year runs from June 20 to June 26, is a UK-wide programme of events celebrating the contribution of refugees to the UK.