Detention, alternatives to detention, and 65 FMR 44 September 2013

Recommendations2 ■■Create an informal network so that deportees ■■Reduce the skills gap upon return by providing can keep in touch and share their experiences. a salary plus support for transport, food and Networking opportunities among returnees could accommodation for one year to allow for at least a help provide a source of solidarity and local year of training. knowledge often missing in the lives of young returnees. ■■Increase the level of control and monitoring of the training provided to ensure that programmes Nassim Majidi [email protected] is a achieve effective and appropriate vocational and PhD candidate at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques educational goals; and go beyond the short-term de Paris, France, and the director of Samuel Hall financial support. This requires investing time in Consulting. www.samuelhall.org understanding returnees’ skills, education levels 1. Majidi, N ‘Understanding the Return and Reintegration Process and job interests, and linking them to the local of Afghan returnees from the UK’, http://tinyurl.com/Majidi-2009 labour market through tailored and youth-relevant 2. Samuel Hall (2013 forthcoming), Urban displaced youth in Kabul, a responses. representative survey of 2,000 displaced and returnee youth.

Assisted voluntary return schemes Anne Koch

In recent years, ‘assisted voluntary return’ (AVR) or oversight for both types of return measures is thus ‘assisted voluntary return and reintegration’ (AVRR) subsumed under one institutional umbrella. schemes have spread across Europe and the Western industrialised world – from five in 1995 to 35 in 2011. When comparing voluntary return schemes in These schemes, the majority of which are administered different countries in Europe and across the world, it by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), becomes apparent that the UK’s choice of institutional facilitate the return of rejected asylum seekers (and design reflects a broader development. Whereas also, in some countries, irregular migrants) to their in countries that established AVR schemes during countries of origin. They typically provide return the 1970s or 1980s (e.g. Germany and Belgium) flights, offer cash allowances and in some cases also assisted voluntary returns and enforced returns are provide reintegration assistance upon return; they administered by separate governmental departments, also usually entail a temporary re-entry ban. Such countries that have established similar schemes schemes allow for the ‘orderly return’ of unwanted more recently (e.g. Canada, Australia and most migrants in that they avoid the use of outright coercion. Eastern European countries) tend to follow the British example and assign oversight responsibilities for While AVR is clearly preferable to deportation, NGOs both pathways to the same domestic authority. and academics alike have in the past criticised these schemes for being misleadingly labelled and AVR can constitute a welcome option for migrants lacking genuine voluntariness. IOM acknowledges wishing to return home but when ‘forced’ and that for many individuals the only alternative to AVR ‘voluntary’ returns are pursued in combination, may be forced return – and some governments the notion of voluntariness becomes compromised. openly admit that the threat of deportation is It follows that the only way to shield AVR from this used to increase participation in AVR schemes. and to realise its beneficial potential is to keep it institutionally separate from forced returns. The UK first established an AVR scheme in Governments committed to the protection of 1999. Responsibility for ‘enforced removals’ and vulnerable individuals against forced return would ‘voluntary removals’ now lies with the Returns be well advised to bear this in mind when establishing Department of the UK Border Agency’s Immigration new AVR schemes. Enforcement unit – and both channels are used to increase the overall number of returns per year. Anne Koch [email protected] is a Despite AVR being implemented by another actor PhD Candidate at the Berlin Graduate School for (currently the NGO Action), the central Transnational Studies.