The Unintended Effects of Norway’s Readmission Agreement with Ethiopia

The main purpose of migration policy is to affect migration flows. Sometimes, however, policies have other, unintended effects. Such consequences are easily overlooked in policy evaluations, which usually focus on the effectiveness of a given policy in terms of its intended aim. This Policy Brief analyses the outcome of Norway’s readmission agreement with Ethiopia. Two years after the signing of that agreement, it is clear that its various effects provide a new avenue for reflecting on migration policies in general, and on readmission agreements in particular.