The Consequences of Forced Migration for Host Communities in Africa

Abstract

This paper reviews the evidence on the consequences of hosting forced migrants (i.e. refugees or internally displaced persons) in Africa. Overall, the presence of forced migrants is positive for local economies, but there are multiple consequences of hosting displaced populations and some could be negative (e.g. environmental damage, competition for resources, labour market displacement). The implications of hosting forced migrants are also likely to be different across sectors of the host population and several papers identify ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ among the host community members. Finally, the impacts of hosting forced migrants can have long-lasting consequences and change the hosting communities even after the forced migrants have left. The paper also identifies several key gaps in the literature. Among these gaps, the lack of research on the consequences of hosting internally displaced persons and the scarce evidence on the implications of refugee repatriation for communities of return standout as particularly important.JEL Codes: J43, J46, F22.