Internationally Assisted Migration: ICEM Rounds Out Five Years of Resettlement

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.