This study aims to identify the conditions that influence the decisions by refugees in protracted displacement regarding return to their home country: when, why and by whom are decisions on return and other coping strategies made?

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.

In this background note, the ACP Observatory on Migration assesses return migration in a South-South context, proposing return definitions, typologies and trends as well as a summary of current policies and best practices.

The Expert Conference on Return and Reintegration, jointly organised by Belgium’s Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), and the Migration Policy institute Europe (MPI-E) marked a significant moment during the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.