How voluntary are voluntary returns?

@article{Webber2011HowVA,
  title={How voluntary are voluntary returns?},
  author={Frances Webber},
  journal={Race \& Class},
  year={2011},
  volume={52},
  pages={107 - 98}
}
  • F. Webber
  • Published 1 April 2011
  • Business
  • Race & Class
‘Voluntary returns’ for rejected asylum seekers, foreign national prisoners, illegal entrants and overstayers are increasingly being promoted by European governments without due regard for the safety and preparedness of the returnee. In addition, the voluntariness of such returns has to be questioned. Among the UK schemes examined here are the Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme (VARRP), Assisted Voluntary Return of Irregular Migrants (AVRIM), Assisted Voluntary Return for… 
View on SAGE
91 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
6
Background Citations
38
Methods Citations
2
Results Citations
1

91 Citations

Voluntary Return as Forced Mobility: Humanitarianism and the Securitization of Romani Migrants in Spain

This chapter questions and reflects on the social programmes offered to Romani migrants and on the practices of social workers which ultimately push their clients to accept the offer of ‘voluntary…

Performing freedom in the Dutch deportation regime: bureaucratic persuasion and the enforcement of ‘voluntary return’

ABSTRACT How do states relate to undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers once they have been formally rejected? A growing amount of research has been devoted to the role of government and NGO…

What drives ‘soft deportation’? Understanding the rise in Assisted Voluntary Return among rejected asylum seekers in the Netherlands

textabstractStates experience difficulties in realizing the return of rejected asylum seekers, but migration control policies are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Against this background, we…

Returning and Deporting Irregular Migrants: Not a Solution to the ‘Refugee Crisis’

This article questions whether the presentation of the return and deportation of irregular migrants as a solution to the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ is ethical. Legally, the return of irregular…

Paying Refugees to Leave

It is argued that such payments to repatriate refugees are permissible if refugees’ choices are voluntary and if states allow refugees to return to the host country in the event of an emergency.

Using or Inducing Return Aspirations? On the role of return counsellors in the implementation of ‘assisted voluntary return’ policies in Austria and the Netherlands

In this paper, we investigate how state and non-state provides of return counselling try to influence aspirations for return among (rejected) asylum seekers. Existing literature has highlighted both…

Is Preventing Coerced Repatriation Ethical and Possible? The Case of NGO Repatriation of South Sudanese in Israel

"Voluntary repatriation" to a country of origin may be necessary to restore refugees' rights, when only a country of origin will provide rights associated with citizenship. Yet, if refugees are…

Home, sweet home?. The effect of return migration support mechanisms on reintegration

Based on 68 qualitative interviews carried out in Senegal and DR Congo with beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of programs assisting migrants after their return to their origin country, this article…

Managing Multilingual Spaces: Negotiating Linguistic Inequality in Repatriation Programmes

Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) programmes in the UK offer a repatriation service for asylum seekers and include a resettlement package. Funded by the British government and the EU, these programmes…

Beyond Voluntary Return: A critical ethnographic study of refugees who departed Israel ‘voluntarily’

Against a global backdrop of anti-refugee discourse, governments are increasingly paying refugees to repatriate. This critical ethnographic study explores the lived experiences of refugees who…
...