This article examines the mobility aspirations of refugees in Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia, and includes an in-depth analysis of the mobility patterns of refugees in Kenya. The research challenges common assumptions about refugee mobility, that: (1) most refugee secondary movements (the movement of refugees from the first country in which they arrive) are South-North; (2) refugee movements are predominantly irregular; (3) aspirations to move translate into actual movements; and (4) refugees who remain in regions of origin are largely immobile.
JDC Literature Review
Results for: Return
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...
Unprepared for (Re)integration – Lessons learned from Afghanistan, Somalia, and Syria on Refugee Returns to Urban Areas
This report examines refugee return and reintegration in urban areas of Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria. The analysis is based on key informant interviews, focus group discussions, household case studies, operational case studies, and a literature review. Key points:...
Forced Displacement and Behavioral Change: An Empirical Study of Returnee Households in the Nuba Mountains
This paper compares the social and economic conditions of returnee households with the non-displaced population in eight villages of the Nuba Mountains in Sudan, by exploiting household data collected during a short-lived interwar period in 2008. In the South Kordofan...
Picking up the Pieces: Realities of Return and Reintegration in North-East Syria
From January to June 2018, an estimated 745,000 IDPs and 16,000 refugees returned to their areas of origin in Syria; the majority of returned IDPs had been displaced within their governates. Drawing on data collected from IDP returnees, refugee returnees, IDPs and...
Syria’s Spontaneous Returns
More than 440,000 IDPs returned to their homes in Syria in 2017, and 31,000 refugees returned to Syria in the first half of 2017. This study analyzes spontaneous returns to Syria, based on surveys in Homs, Idlib and Azaz governates, and Aleppo City. The researchers...
Perspectives on the Return of Syrian Refugees
Discussions about the imminent return of large numbers of Syrian refugees are premature. Approximately two thirds of the former 21 million inhabitants of Syria have been forced to leave their homes (6.3 million IDPs, 5.2 million registered refugees and up to three...
When is Return Voluntary? Conditions of Asylum in Lebanon
Many refugees face physical, psychological or material ‘push factors’ arising from the lack of legal status. A key factor is refugees’ legal status in host countries. In Lebanon, 80 percent of Syrian refugees lack residency documents, which is a criminal offence, and...
The Economic Effects of Refugee Return
This paper explores whether it is in the economic self-interest of advanced countries to return forcibly displaced persons. Voluntary returns from rich countries to poor countries are rare; in most cases voluntary returns are unrealistic due to continued insecurity in...