Comparative Research on the Assisted Voluntary Return & Reintegration of Migrants (IOM)

The study was conceived and commissioned as part of the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s Irregular Migration Research Programme and supported by the IOM and is one of the largest comparative projects on this topic in recent years.

Sustainable voluntary return of migrants back to their origin countries is an important aspect of comprehensive migration management; yet it is not always clear whether and how policy enables return or promotes sustainable return and reintegration. A lack of accessible data and a lack of consensus on how to define key concepts such as sustainability make it difficult to assess the impact of assisted voluntary return policies; and their impact also varies across different types of migrants and settings.

This report presents the findings of a study that explored the factors influencing the decision to return, including the role played by return policy interventions. The study also aimed to enhance understanding of the concept of sustainable return, how to define it, and how to measure it. It involved fieldwork across 15 countries of origin, transit and destination; and is one of the largest comparative projects on this topic in recent years. At the same time, however, the sample size of respondents in each country is relatively small and this study is intended as a preliminary research project to test a new methodology that requires further expansion and testing.

This publication is only available in English.

Publication Date:
wo 04 mrt 2015
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