Abstract
Return of refugees and their reintegration into the community of origin has become of great importance among policy makers and researchers in the field of migration studies. The outbreak of civil wars and rising number of refugees, especially in recent years, raised concerns about the issue, and therefore, the return of refugees as one of the key solutions to the refugee problem is becoming increasingly important. However, forced migrants and refugees have faced many difficulties and failures in their experiences of returning. This chapter aims to examine the repatriation/return migration and sustainability of return by emphasizing the concept of ‘reintegration’ and its social, economic and demographic dimensions. In addition, findings from a survey conducted in Afghanistan on the return of Afghan refugees from Iran to their country of origin are presented in order to give a better understanding of return to and reintegration processes in post-conflict contexts.
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Notes
- 1.
As Bovenkerk (1974, p. 6) argued, ‘the concept of repatriation has a special status because it has a surplus meaning that cannot be detached from the return movement per se.’ Repatriation in this chapter refers to those returns which happen under the assistance of governments or international organizations like the UNHCR. We refer to return and repatriation interchangeably as it is difficult to distinguish between the two easily. Our focus in this chapter is on the return and repatriation of refugees and forced migrants.
- 2.
Several definitions have been proposed for sustainability of returns considering different aspects of return, but one of the main challenges for defining sustainability is how it is measured. Black and Gent (2006, pp. 25–29) elaborated some of the definitions of sustainability of return and the problems they face in measurement.
- 3.
A census carried out periodically by Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) to identify foreign nationals.
- 4.
Figures released by the Interior Minister, Rahmani Fazli, at the Islamic Consultative Assembly is 2015.
- 5.
To assess the economic reintegration levels, three dimensions were measured: stability and security of job, stability and security of income, and feeling of discrimination (in job and labor market). Then, 15 items were designed for these dimensions. To assess the reliability of each item, Cronbach’s alpha was used which was equal to 68%. Six dimensions were used for social reintegration levels consisting of 24 items. The reliability of the items was equal to 78%.
- 6.
Even recent attempts of the government to make peace with the Taliban are not very optimistic. Afghan people are doubtful about these peace talks as no tangible results have been experienced and the insecurity and violence are growing (for more details about the attitudes of Afghans towards peace talks, see: Karimi and Ibrahimi 2016).
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Mohammadi, A., Abbasi-Shavazi, M.J., Sadeghi, R. (2018). Return to Home: Reintegration and Sustainability of Return to Post-conflict Contexts. In: Hugo, G., Abbasi-Shavazi, M., Kraly, E. (eds) Demography of Refugee and Forced Migration. International Studies in Population, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67147-5_13
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