Return
Migration
Return
occupies a central place in much policy discussion on migration
– whether in terms of the return of refugees after the end
of conflict, or skilled professionals who might contribute to a
country’s development, or in terms of the return of rejected
asylum-seekers and irregular migrants. Return of refugees and migrants
is something that can hold great promise for developing countries,
especially when it is done with the willing participation of the
migrants or refugees themselves. Yet a number of different policy
objectives drive different policy agendas on return, making both
analysis of the process of return, and the generation of simple
policy conclusions somewhat elusive.
Something that most policy-makers can agree on is the need for
return migration to be sustainable – it makes little point
facilitating the return of a refugee or migrant if they are likely
to be forced to flee again as soon as they get home. Yet understanding
of what constitutes a ‘sustainable’ return remains contested
– indeed ‘sustainability’ is likely to be conceptually
different for individuals on the one hand, and for host societies
on the other. The Centre’s work on return so far has concentrated
on bringing together the findings of existing empirical work on
return at Sussex and elsewhere, to explore the concept of ‘sustainable
return’, transcending the simple conception of sustainability
as involving the absence of re-emigration. In addition, interviews
with voluntary returnees have been carried out in four villages
in SE Albania.
In the next year, new work is to be carried with returnees in
Bangladesh who consider their return to beone of ‘failure’.
In addition, an edited volume focused on post-conflict return in
the Balkans is being revised for publication, whilst a new programme
of empirical research is also under development, dealing with the
impact of return on a series of local institutions in post-conflict
countries.
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