Return Migration to Bosnia and Herzegovina: Monitoring the Embeddedness of Returnees

Type Thesis or Dissertation - Master Thesis
Title Return Migration to Bosnia and Herzegovina: Monitoring the Embeddedness of Returnees
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2008
URL http://www.ru.nl/publish/pages/533483/report_bosniaherzegovina_final.pdf
Abstract
Refugee return to post-conflict countries is often seen as a measure of success and political progress in a recovering state. The repatriation of refugees back to Bosnia and Herzegovina following the 1992-1995 war was a means of contributing towards the peace process, but also a solution to the refugee burden faced by Western European host countries. For many returnees the inability to sustain their livelihoods has led to small scale remigration after 1998. Facing increasingly restrictive asylum policies in Western European countries, many asylum seekers without a political motivation find themselves sent home. Several initiatives have been established to assist rejected returning asylum seekers, with the aim to contribute towards sustainable return (or sustainable embeddedness) in the home country. The question remains if and under which circumstances returning migrants can become re-embedded in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where socio-economic and social-cultural conditions remain unstable. This report addresses which factors influence the process of embeddness and what the role of assistance is in sustainable return. This report discusses economic, social networks and psycho-social dimensions of embeddedness, including employment security, income stability and accommodation; the role of social networks in emotional and material needs; psychological wellbeing, identity, and perceptions of safety and home. The report further analyses the influence of individual characteristics factors, such as age, ethnicity and gender; migration cycle factors, such as housing and employment possibilities abroad, remittances and savings; and finally assistance factors before, during and after return on the embeddedness of returnees. The report reveals how the dimensions of embeddedness are interrelated, and how the factors influencing embeddedness re-enforce one another and should all be considered when assisting involuntary returnees to rebuild their lives in the home society. The research project is coordinated by Marieke van Houte, country reports are cocoordinated by Mireille de Koning.

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