More than 2 million displaced Afghans have returned to Afghanistan between 2014 and 2016, the majority from Pakistan, including over half a million registered refugees who returned under UNHCR’s voluntary return program. This report describes and analyzes the living...
JDC Literature Review
Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019
The report presents data compiled by UNHCR on forced displacement in 2019 due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. This year’s report includes analysis of displacement trends over the past decade. Key...
The impacts of refugee repatriation on receiving communities
Between 2000 and 2016 around 600,000 Burundian refugees returned from Tanzania, the majority before 2010, with most settling in their communities of origin. This paper examines the consequences of refugee repatriation for communities of return in Burundi, in a context...
Matching Refugees to Host Country Locations Based on Preferences and Outcomes
The idea of refugee matching is to select resettlement locations that are likely to be a good fit for a given refugee to thrive. Research has shown that the place of initial settlement has a profound impact on the long-term integration success of refugees [see for...
Dynamic Refugee Matching
Asylum seekers are often assigned to a locality in their host country based on uninformed random mechanisms, which do not consider the characteristics of the asylum seekers in the matching process. Consequently, this approach may lead to an inefficient and unfair...
Improving Refugee Integration through Data-driven Algorithmic Assignment
When refugees are resettled in third countries, resettlement countries do not fully leverage the factors that promote refugee integration such as: (1) geographical context (e.g. economic and social opportunities available in resettlement locations); (b) personal...
The Return to Big City Experience: Evidence from Danish Refugees
The authors exploit the random settlement policy for refugees in Denmark between 1986-1998 to examine the effect of locations on refugees’ wages. During this period, the Danish government assigned 80,000 refugees across 271 municipalities, in proportion to local...
Balancing the Rights of Displaced, Returning and Remaining Populations: Learning from Iraq
The return of 3.1 million IDPs to their places of origin in Iraq is seen as a benchmark of success. The article highlights critical questions related to mitigating competing rights and protection needs of those who stayed, returned IDPs, and those still displaced....
More is Better: Evaluating the Impact of a Variation in Cash Assistance on the Reintegration Outcomes of Returning Afghan Refugees
This paper examines the impact of cash assistance provided to Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan on household outcomes post-return. Specifically, the authors examine whether Afghan refugees who returned between July 2016 and March 2017 and received a larger...
A Persuasive Peace: Syrian Refugees’ Attitudes Towards Compromise and Civil War Termination
Civilians who have fled violent conflict and settled in neighboring countries are integral to ending or prolonging conflict. Contingent on their attitudes, they can either back peaceful settlements or support warring groups and continued fighting. Attitudes toward...