The time to plan and prepare for return and reintegration support is now, as relevant policy and programming discussions are ongoing, in Ukraine, in the European Union (EU), and in hosting countries.

The commitments and decisions made at policy and programme level regarding return and reintegration must be coherent, evidence-based and in support of bath potential returnees and the Ukrainian government and ongoing emergency response priorities and actions.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is uniquely placed to convene and contribute to these policies and programmes due to our presence, extensive expertise in both humanitarian response and protection, and return and reintegration; as well as our ability to collect relevant data.

Return and reintegration to Ukraine cannot be “business as usual”, not only due to the unknown numbers and profiles of those who might wish to return but be unable to do so without support, but also the ongoing conflict and future recovery and reconstruction context — individual assisted voluntary return and reintegration models must be adapted.