Humanitarianism and Return

Humanitarianism and Return: Compromising Protection

In many contexts around the world, states use funding for humanitarian programming as an active part of their attempts to manage populations displaced by conflict. Humanitarian aid to refugees and internally displaced is commonly understood as a temporary activity that ends when people will return home. Yet returnees can often not be provided with protection and ‘return’ for many entails a first encounter with a new place. In a recent policy brief we argue that humanitarian organizations have the responsibility to analyze the long-term security implications of their decisions on where to provide aid.

image=647700e261fe4e639c178a3ce2b936f0.jpg width=512 height=309 caption=Somali refugees returning. Photo: The Africa Migration Insider alignment=right