Challenges of Return and Reintegration

Forced Migration Review

Kabul, Afghanistan. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2002 more than 3.6 million Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland, and IDPs are also moving back to their regions of origin.
© Shawn Baldwin

This resource page complements Forced Migration Review, no. 21, the theme for which is “Home for good? Challenges of return and reintegration.” This issue focuses on lessons learned from recent return movements as well as policy concerns relating to the creation and maintenance of enabling environments for sustainable returns. The references below have been selected from Forced Migration Online (FMO), and include full-text documents, journal articles, web resources, and organizations.

See also: Durable Solutions resource page

Overviews

• Going home: land and property issues, Forced Migration Review, no. 7 (2000)
• Return to peace: post-conflict realities, Forced Migration Review, no. 11 (2001)
• When does internal displacement end? Forced Migration Review, no. 17 (2003)

Documents

For more, search in the FMO Digital Library.

• Amnesty International. 1997. “Bosnia-Herzegovina: who's living in my house? Obstacles to the safe return of refugees and internally displaced people.”
• Beyani, Chaloka. 1993. “The content, scope and duration of returnee protection.”
• Bizimana, Ladislas. 1996. “Gender, peace and development: the role of women in the Rwanda reconstruction process.”
• Carvalho, Kamia. 2003. “IDP protection in Angola: has momentum been lost?”, Forced Migration Review, no. 16, pp. 31-33.
• Crisp, Jeff. 1996. “From social disarticulation to social reconstruction: a critical review of the UNHCR reintegration programme for returning refugees and displaced people in Mozambique.”
• Cuny, Fred and Barry Stein. 1994. “The contemporary practice of voluntary repatriation: repatriation during conflict, reintegration amidst devastation.”
• Harvey, Paul. 1998. “Rehabilitation in complex political emergencies: is rebuilding civil society the answer?”, Disasters, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 200-217.
• International Crisis Group. 1998. “Minority return or mass relocation?”
• Kojakovic, Marija. 1996. “Searching and testing models of post-war reconstruction, Dubrovnik, Croatia 1992-1996.”
• Leckie, Scott. 2002. “Towards a right to security of place,” Forced Migration Review, no. 12, pp. 20-21
• Mooney, Erin. 2003. “Bringing the end into sight for internally displaced persons,” Forced Migration Review, no. 17, pp. 4-7.
• Nauphal, Naila. 1995. “Healing the wounds of war: civil reconciliation in post-war Lebanon.”
• Rogge, John. 1991. “Repatriation of refugees: a not-so-simple "optimum" solution.”
• Schaffer, Jessica. 1994. “Repatriation and re-integration: durable solutions?”
• Weiss Fagen, Patricia. 1996. “Meaning and modes of reintegration.”
• Windisch, Petra, GTZ, et al. 1997. “Concepts and experiences of demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants: guidelines and instruments for future programmes.”

Web resources

For more, search in the FMO Web Catalogue.

• Article and paper index (Brookings-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement)
• The conflict management toolkit (Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Conflict Management Program)
• Dialogue on voluntary repatriation and sustainable reintegration in Africa (UNHCR)
• Document library (OCHA, Internal Displacement Unit)
• Documents and data (UNDP, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery)
• Handbook for repatriation and reintegration activities (UNHCR)
• IASC key documents and materials 1992-2004 (Inter-Agency Standing Committee)
• Index on landmines (International Campaign to Ban Landmines)
• Legal framework regarding displaced persons and returnee status (UNHCR Bosnia)
• An overview of WSP experience (WSP International)
• Resource library (Conflict Prevention and Post-conflict Reconstruction Network)
• Themes (World Bank, Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit)
• Profiles on internal displacement (Global IDP Project) (see esp. “Patterns of Return and Resettlement” section in most profiles)

Relevant Organizations

For more, search in the FMO Organizations Directory.

• Amnesty International
• Brookings-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement
• Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, UNDP
• Conflict Prevention and Post-conflict Reconstruction Network
• Global IDP Project – Norwegian Refugee Council Group 484, Serbia and Montenegro
• InterAction
• Inter-Agency Internal Displacement Division, OCHA
• Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)
• International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
• International Crisis Group (ICG)
• International Network on Displacement and Resettlement (INDR)
• International Organization for Migration (IOM)
• Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Conflict Management Program, Johns Hopkins University
• Ockenden International
• Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
• Oxfam
• Refugees International (RI)
• Representative of the Secretary-General for Internally Displaced Persons, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
• Research Group on Forced Migration (Incl. IDP Research Network), Department of Geography, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
• UN Habitat
• UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• World Bank Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit
• WSP International [formerly War-Torn Societies Project]