Pakistan/ Afghan refugees voluntary returning home/ Takhta Baig centre near Peshawar. Foto: UNHCR/P.Benetar 2002

Finding durable solutions

• Voluntary Return home
• Local settlement
• Resettlement

Article 13 ”...Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

UNHCR seeks lasting solutions for the problems of refugees through repatriation to the home countries, integration in first countries of asylum, or resettlement to third countries.

Voluntary Return home

Many refugees return home once the situation in their country of origin stabilizes. While in the period from 1985 to 1990 an estimated 1,2 million refugees returned to their home countries, in the following five years the number rose to 9 million. During 2000, UNHCR helped 800,000 persons to return voluntary to their homes. In 1999, a little more than 1,3 million persons repatriated, out of these, 760,000 went to former Yugoslavia. The major voluntary repatriation movements today are, to the former Yugoslavia, and also to Afghanistan (before September 2001), Eritrea, Somalia and East Timor.

The right to live safely in one’s country and to return to it are amongst the most fundamental of all human rights as well as the right to asylum which is a necessary corollary to these basic human rights. Where people are able to reintegrate viably and safely into their countries and communities of origin, repatriation not only benefits returnees themselves, but can also facilitate economic reconstruction, reconciliation in war-torn societies and contribute to regional stability. However, in recent years repatriation of refugees and asylum seekers has also increasingly taken place in a volatile or unstable situation, where returnees have been exposed to pressure or duress, ranging from forcible return to evacuations from situations of insecurity in countries of asylum.

Where voluntary repatriation is organized or facilitated by UNHCR, the organization attempts, wherever possible, to ensure that a legal framework is set up to protect the returnees’ rights and interests. UNHCR seeks to play a more active role in ensuring that repatriation is a truly durable solution by extending assistance to refugees who have returned to their own country and monitoring their welfare.

Local settlement

When voluntary repatriation is unlikely to take place in the foreseeable future, a solution must be found for the refugee in the country of asylum. In many countries UNHCR offers in varying degrees support for local settlement projects in both rural and urban settings. It can be education, vocational training, and counselling to help refugees gain access to employment and the means to become independent. UNHCR also promotes adoption of national legislations which allow refugees to rebuild their lives and eventually become fully integrated citizens. To promote the integration of refugees UNHCR also develops and designs projects to increase the public’s understanding for the situation of refugees.

Resettlement

Refugees are not always able to return safely home or to remain in the country where they received asylum. There are situations in which resettlement to a third country is the only safe and viable durable solution for refugees. Thanks to the generosity of resettlement countries and the tireless endeavour of local non-governmental organisations, resettlement has become a fundamental element of the system for the international protection of refugees.

A number of countries have established refugee resettlement programs and receive annually a certain number of refugees within an established quota. UNHCR also encourages additional governments to extend opportunities to those refugees in need.

Read more about resettlement