Assisted return of rejected asylum seekers – how can we create sustainability?

European asylum systems are producing increasing numbers of rejected asylum seekers who have proved difficult to return to their countries of origin. Deportation systems are expensive, politically complex and have been criticised on humanitarian grounds, prompting a heightened focus on voluntary return measures as a more humane and cost effective alternative. However, rejected asylum seekers often remain hesitant to join existing return programmes, despite the availability of economic benefits for those who return voluntarily.

This brief identifies a number of routes to a more successful and sustainable return of rejected asylum seekers from Denmark and comparable northern European countries. In general, assisted return policies should adopt a more development-oriented focus that prioritises the longterm integration, or embeddedness, of returnees in the local cultural and socioeconomic environment. This requires a better understanding of specific return contexts and returnee populations, as well as a better integration between pre- and post-return measures. To achieve this, increased institutional cooperation across states and between governments and NGOs in national and international contexts is called for.