Reintegration Of Returnees Research Articles

Employability of the Refugees/IDP and their Resettlement among Local Communities in East Africa

There are currently 70 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, with 41 million being internally displaced, 25 million being refugees and 3 million seeking asylum and their numbers are growing, with the majority of these people living in Africa and Asia. The Nairobi Declaration on Long-Term Solutions for Somali Refugees and Reintegration of Returnees in Somalia was adopted by East African communities on issues pertaining to refugees/IDPs. These enabled countries dealing with similar issues to collaborate in order to protect and find employability solutions for refugees/IDPs among the local community. This study thus investigated the job placement experiences of displaced people in their new communities. Triangulated reviews of qualitative results from countries across East Africa, including high-income countries peer-reviewed research on the employability rate of refugees/IDPs among local communities in East Africa were summarized. The findings revealed both commonalities in the employability experiences of refugees/IDPs within the local communities across East Africa. There are limited job opportunities for the refugees/IDPs. As occurred in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, deliberate intervention is required to increase the employability and resettlement of refugees/IDPs among members of the local community for menial and limited available jobs. Governments should capitalize on the people's shared identity and develop employable programs to help the region's economy recover. Local institutions should also develop intervention programs and strategies for dealing with refugees/IDPs' employability issues, as evidenced by the education collaboration (Ashesi university) initiative in Ghana, which has collaborated with more African universities to focus on the employability pillar, among others. Keywords: Refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), Forced displacement, Employability, Resettlement, local communities, East Africa

Employability of the Refugees/IDP and their Resettlement among Local Communities in East Africa

There are currently 70 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, with 41 million being internally displaced, 25 million being refugees and 3 million seeking asylum and their numbers are growing, with the majority of these people living in Africa and Asia. The Nairobi Declaration on Long-Term Solutions for Somali Refugees and Reintegration of Returnees in Somalia was adopted by East African communities on issues pertaining to refugees/IDPs. These enabled countries dealing with similar issues to collaborate in order to protect and find employability solutions for refugees/IDPs among the local community. This study thus investigated the job placement experiences of displaced people in their new communities. Triangulated reviews of qualitative results from countries across East Africa, including high-income countries peer-reviewed research on the employability rate of refugees/IDPs among local communities in East Africa were summarized. The findings revealed both commonalities in the employability experiences of refugees/IDPs within the local communities across East Africa. There are limited job opportunities for the refugees/IDPs. As occurred in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, deliberate intervention is required to increase the employability and resettlement of refugees/IDPs among members of the local community for menial and limited available jobs. Governments should capitalize on the people's shared identity and develop employable programs to help the region's economy recover. Local institutions should also develop intervention programs and strategies for dealing with refugees/IDPs' employability issues, as evidenced by the education collaboration (Ashesi university) initiative in Ghana, which has collaborated with more African universities to focus on the employability pillar, among others. Keywords: Refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), Forced displacement, Employability, Resettlement, local communities, East Africa

Community Centred Approach to Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Returnees

On September 8, 2022, Mr. Navaid Aziz, an Imam and Director at the Islamic Information Society of Calgary, presented Community Centred Approach to Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Returnees at the 2022 CASIS Vancouver Defence and Security Advisory Network (DSAN). The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions from the audience. The key points discussed were the holistic approach involving community-based rehabilitation to help returnees reintegrate into society and utilizing a religious-based approach in addressing the role that religion had played in radicalization.

Return migration and re-integration of returnees challenges in the origin country

Abstract Return migration, traditionally not a well-studied and often neglected area, is becoming an important component of the international migration debate. Reintegration is an essential part of return migration and identified as a complex process that is experienced differently by returnees. The adaptation of immigrants in the host country has been extensively studied, while much less attention has been paid to economic and socio-cultural reintegration and the difficulties return migrants face once they come back to their homeland. Especially children and youth born in destination countries with sociolinguistic and socialization difficulties face a particularly tough reintegration process. Theoretically, there is comprehensive literature focused on return migration and reasons for return, but less in return migration policies and reintegration process. Empirically, there is a lack of studies focused on the reintegration of returnees, particularly in the socio-cultural aspect. With increased attention to the importance of this process, many states and governments have established policies or programs to encourage the return of their citizens, and facilitate returnees’ successful and permanent relocation in the new society of the origin country. This paper aims to analyze theoretically and empirically the processes of reintegration of returnees in the origin country by identifying the challenges they encounter in the economic and social-cultural life of the origin country.

COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications of Public Health Emergency on Migration and Repatriation in Pakistan

The study sheds light on the current global; situation posed by a pandemic; COVID 19 and the impact it has brought to a country like Pakistan in terms of repatriation of its migrants. The data gathered for the study were qualitative with an exploratory research design. Content analysis has been used as the primary method and tool for analysis of data that has been gathered from the latest news, updates, articles, blogs, press briefings and articles published on the pandemic and its implications on migrants across the globe and specifically Pakistan over the past six months. The study highlights the effects of these global alterations on human mobility in our local context and efforts made by the Government and its allied institutions in easing out the issues pertaining to the repatriation of returnee migrants. The findings suggest that the reintegration of returnees in the local economy and socio-cultural context will be the next challenge.

An Appraisal of Trans-Boundary Human Trafficking for Domestic Workers in the Arab States; The Case of North Shewa and Oromia Zones of Amhara Regional State

Trafficking covers the whole process of movement of people starting with securing the consent of victims at the point of origin to the receipt of victim’s destination. Trafficking in persons, especially women and children, is increasingly becoming an issue of global concern. Poverty and unemployment as well as the disadvantageous economic and social position of women are the most important exacerbating factors identified. Thus, this study has explored the existing situations of trafficking in person from North shewa and Oromiya Zones of Amhara National Regional State. It demonstrates the current situations of trafficking, factors that lead peoples to illegal migration and the effect of travel ban on trafficking. The study further focused on legal frameworks and institutional set up which helps to combat human trafficking through protection, prevention and prosecutions processes. The study is conducted in critical research approach and employed in-depth interviews, key informant interviews vis-à-vis analysis of relevant literatures and secondary data sources as an instrument to solicit the necessary information for the research. The research ascertained that women and children are pushed by poverty and allied factors. Moreover, the findings denoted that currently, the prevalence of trafficking in person in the study area is alarmingly increased. After assessing the situation on the ground the paper also found that the institutional and legal frameworks are not effective at least to minimize the rate of trafficking. Further, collaboration and coordination among the stakeholders to take appropriate measures is insufficient. Moreover, rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees in sustainable conditions is inadequate. This in turn exposed the returnee’s for re-trafficking risk in the study area.

Promoting the economic reintegration of returnees through vocational training: lessons from Liberia

ABSTRACTThrough a follow-up study, this article explores the role of vocational training programmes in promoting the economic reintegration of repatriated refugees in Liberia. In 2014, we conducted an initial study on livelihood outcomes of vocational training programmes provided by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization for Liberian returnees. By tracing the trained returnees two years after the completion of training, the article investigates the employment and economic conditions of these former beneficiaries and aims to provide valuable insights into the potential and limitations of vocational training programmes in relation to refugees’ economic reintegration post-repatriation.

Foreign Bodies: Transnational Activism, the Insurgency in the North Caucasus and “Beyond”

This article examines foreign fighters and the insurgency in the North Caucasus. The first part of the article addresses conceptual issues concerning the ways that foreign fighters are analysed, posing this more widely in terms of transnational activism. Here I examine the importance of kin and relatedness. I develop this argument in the second part of the article, which examines pan-Islamism and transnational activism in the post-Soviet period. The third section draws attention to the different groups of foreign fighters, as part of a wider activist movement in the North Caucasus. Here I show that a complex group of transnational activists from the Greater Middle East, North Africa, parts of Europe, and Central Asia participated in the conflicts in the North Caucasus. Finally, the article turns to examine volunteers from the North Caucasus who travelled to fight in Syria, concluding with some considerations about the reintegration of returnees and former activists.

MIGRACIJOS PATIRTIS – PRANAŠUMAS AR TRŪKUMAS LIETUVOS DARBO RINKOJE?

The paper explores how integration of return migrants into the labour market of their home country is influenced by the migration experience – does it give an advantage to returnees? Migration literature tends to focus on individual level factors such as human capital acquired abroad, to explain the success of the integration of returnees while somewhat neglecting the importance of the environment in their home country. This paper demonstrates that such structural factors as information asymmetry between a potential employer and a potential employee (in this case job-seeking returnee) as well as the perception of migration experience in the home country’s labour market should be also taken into account. The paper draws on an empirical study of the Lithuanian case. Consequently, the return migrants are defined as individuals who left Lithuania to reside permanently abroad for a period of at least one year after 1990 but were living permanently in Lithuania when the research was carried out. The main data sources of the research are three representative surveys carried out in 2013: a Lithuanian population survey (N = 1930), a survey of migrants who have returned to live in Lithuania (N = 804), and a survey of Lithuanian employers (N = 1000)52. The research revealed that almost all return migrants have acquired valuable knowledge and skills while abroad, which they expect to use in advancing their careers in Lithuania. As many as eight out of 10 migrants who have returned to live in Lithuania said that while abroad they improved some of their skills. Yet the returnees, in assessing whether the migration experience helped them in their employment in Lithuania, frequently stated that their emigration experience had no effect or even thought that it was a disadvantage and that their new knowledge and skills are undervalued in Lithuania. Correspondingly, over 60% of respondent employers indicated that migration experience would have no effect on their choice of employee, and one in ten employers stated that this would be a disadvantage. As could have been expected, there exists some heterogeneity in assessments of benefits of migration experience. For example, employers are relatively more positive about the experience gained abroad doing skilled work and less positive about doing unskilled work. Companies linked to other countries through their capital, market and business relations are also relatively more inclined to opt for returning migrants. However, it should be noted that more than half of employers do not view even skilled work abroad positively, and most of internationally oriented companies when hiring a new employee would choose one with work experience and education acquired in Lithuania rather than abroad. The paper argues that an important factor for ignoring the experience of returning migrants in the labour market is a somewhat unfavourable attitude towards return migrants and their migration experience present in the Lithuanian society and among employers. More than half of employers in Lithuania and almost half of the population of Lithuania agree with the statement that usually those who have failed abroad return to Lithuania. So, return is like a signal of failure, and employers who support this opinion are more likely to assess the migration experience as a disadvantage rather than an advantage. Thus, in order to better understand the processes of return migration and integration of returnees, attention must be paid to whether the home country’s labour market is returnee-friendly or unfriendly. Regardless of how much human capital return migrants bring from abroad, the successful integration of returnees is unlikely if their migration experience is not considered as an asset by the home country’s labour market. The returnee-unfriendly environment leads not only to the loss of potential benefits of human capital, but also to the unsuccessful reintegration of returnees and, eventually, to their repeat migration. Therefore, the Lithuanian migration policy which aims mainly at encouraging return migration, instead of focusing largely on the migrants themselves and their migration decisions, should devote much more attention to the integration process of returnees and include measures for making labour market more returnee-friendly.

Afghanistan: Voiceless and Displaced

Afghanistan: Voiceless and Displaced

The Contribution of Vocational Education and Training to the Integration of Refugee Returnees in Vietnam

The paper reviews major developments in Vietnam over the past decades as it moves from a socialist to a market economy, focusing on the changing labour market situation, the present TVET system and its role in helping returned exiles find employment opportunities. It finds that, despite tremendous effort, only limited success was achieved and that the organisation and operation of the technical and vocational education system contributed only nominally to the reintegration of returnees into the labour market. The 1998 data for the research were drawn primarily from the findings of a survey of exiles repatriated in the 1990s. It was conducted by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) of Vietnam and by the European Community International Program for the Reintegration of Vietnamese Returnees (ECIP).

Exchange of Experience between the Russian Federation and Southern European Regions in the Field of Migrant Reintegration Policies

This article provides a short oudine of a project initiated in 1994 by the European Commission and aimed at organizing exchanges of experience in the field of socioeconomic reintegration of returnees between the regional authorities of Andalucia (Spain) and East Macedonia-Thrace (Greece), and the federal authorities of Russia. This project is implemented under the European Commission's ECOS/OUVERTURE program, which supports the establishment of cooperation networks between regional and local authorities in the European Union, Central/Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union on a variety of development-oriented topics. The overall objective of this network on migration, entided MIGRA, is to enable the Russian Federation, and to a lesser extent Macedonia-Thrace, to benefit from experience gained by Andalucia in reintegrating its returning migrants. Return migration, as substantial research has demonstrated, can be of intrinsic relevance to regional socioeconomic development. Migrants, who tend to reintegrate into their regions of origin, have a clear potential to revitalize economically disadvantaged and demographically unbalanced regions by trans? ferring new skills and experience, if not by promoting new investment and job-inducing activities. In the case of the MIGRA partner regions, the setting up of an interregional network on the reintegration of migrants is even more appropriate and timely after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the resulting mass migration of Russians and ethnic Greeks.

Return Migration to Italy and the Reintegration of Returnees

Return Migration to Italy and the Reintegration of Returnees