Geneva - IOM, the UN Migration Agency, published today (15/08) a paper outlining a new approach to support sustainable reintegration of migrants following their return home. The Integrated Approach towards Reintegration in the Context of Return recognizes the complexity of factors that affect returning migrants at the individual, community and structural levels.

Each year, IOM assists migrants in their voluntary return process. In 2016 alone, 98,403 returnees received support from IOM. The integrated approach proposes that facilitating sustainable reintegration should include supporting returning migrants in reaching not only economic self-sufficiency back home, but also social stability within their communities and psychosocial well-being so that they can better help returning migrants cope with possible (re)migration drivers. The integrated approach offers recommendations for policy and programmatic interventions. It also calls on all relevant stakeholders in the areas of migration management, development cooperation and humanitarian assistance to work together.

“Return is at times mistakenly oversimplified. While some migrants go back to welcoming communities and reintegrate in a smooth manner, many present vulnerabilities and face challenges they cannot overcome on their own,” said Nicola Graviano, Senior Specialist at IOM’s Migrant Assistance Division (MAD) in IOM Headquarters in Geneva. “The coordinated efforts of actors with different mandates and priorities are necessary to ensure that individual needs are addressed and that communities and countries of return have the capacities to provide an environment conducive to successful reintegration,” added Graviano.

Through the paper outlining the approach, IOM intends to contribute to the debate surrounding the topics of return and reintegration, and to broaden the scope of its interventions in these areas. The paper presents thematic expertise on one of the core themes of the 2018 Global Compact for Migration.

To read, ‘Towards the Integrated Approach to Reintegration in Context of Return’, please click here.

For more information on IOM’s Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programmes, please click here.

For more information, please contact IOM HQ in Geneva:
Karolina Krelinova, Tel: +41 22 717 9585, Email: kkrelinova@iom.int or Jorge Galindo, Tel: +41 22 717 95205, Email: jgalindo@iom.int