Towards Durable Solutions: Expectations vs. Reality - Perceptions of Unassisted Returns to Somalia

In 2015, Samuel Hall conducted a study to document conditions of unassisted spontaneous returns of Somalis. Starting with decision-making processes up to the conditions of returnees post-return, the study provides a cross border, longitudinal view of spontaneous return as a process that begins in Kenya. 

This study gives a voice to refugees who have returned – unassisted – to Somalia and those planning to return: what constitutes a voluntary, dignified and safe return to Somalia? Respondents were chosen among those falling outside of UNHCR’s assistance program in order to inform return and reintegration programming in Kenya and Somalia. A 2014 Intentions Surveyi rates at 2.6% the number of refugees willing to return to Somalia. Yet, key informants report that the trend of returns is picking up in the Dadaab camps, most notably in Ifo 2 and Kambios, home to the most recent arrivals of refugees from Somalia. Key informants report that up to 10,000 refugees are considering return. UNHCR further reports that a total of 2,674 refugees have registered in Dadaab’s ProGres database as willing to return to Somalia. It is therefore both timely and necessary to understand what return to Somalia means – this report is a fact-finding report on the unassisted returns from Kenya to Somalia, which, due to various reasons such as the lack of consolidated data collection system and absence of support networks, are not fully known and understood.