Project Activities

Report on the field trip to Portugal

Within the framework of the Transnational Exchange V project, a field trip to Portugal was offered for European AVRR counsellors. From 12 - 15 July 2022, six counsellors from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Greece travelled to Lisbon. During a visit to Lisbon at the Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF), the Portuguese Immigration and Border Service, the group first learned more about the asylum procedure and the government's migration policy stance. In contrast to many other European member states, Portugal has a very liberal immigration policy. Nevertheless, there is a demand for voluntary return assistance, as the processing of applications for residency often takes several years and this time is difficult to bridge financially.

IOM Portugal, the only provider of AVRR counselling in the country, has a large network of 30 partner institutions that refer interested clients to IOM. In addition to the usual services in the preparation phase, IOM offers potential returnees the opportunity to receive psychosocial support from external psychologists. On average, 8 pre-departure appointments allow the clients to discuss return motives. In the current return project (2021-2022), 250 clients (June 2022, IOM Portugal) have successfully returned home. The target group consists of 82% Brazilian migrant workers. In general, returnees receive 70€ travel assistance and 2000€ reintegration assistance.

The participants of the observation trip reported that the insight into another return counselling system was enriching and motivating.

You can find the complete report on the field trip to Portugal and others on our work here.

Or you can download it directly as a pdf-file here. 

5. Workshop: Voluntary return to the Middle East with a focus on Syria, Lebanon and Jordan 

The workshop took place online on the 5th of July, 2022. The civil war in Syria has been ongoing for more than a decade now, which explains why the return numbers are still very low and key actors of the return field such as IOM do not support voluntary return to Syria. The goal of the workshop was to discuss the current situation in the Middle East, analyze return options, and learn about future scenarios of the region from experts. Voluntary returns to the neighboring countries Jordan and Lebanon are equally low. Wolfgang Mühlberger, a renowned Middle East expert, highlighted in the beginning of the workshop common characteristics of the Middle East region. Mr. Mühlberger stressed the negative effects of climate change on the region which has always had water stress regarding irrigation and access to water for a growing demographic. But now, it struggles immensely with an even greater water demand due to droughts, higher average temperatures and less rainfall. The lack of water has again negative implications on the production of cereal and wheat. The war in Ukraine only increased the problem by stopping the wheat supply which countries in the Middle East depend on. In 2020, Lebanon received 80.4% of its wheat import from Ukraine for example (FAO, 2020). Also the health sector suffered from extreme stress during the Covid-19 pandemic. Looking at the Fragile State index, Syria ranks on 3rd place in 2021, Lebanon on 34th place and Jordan 67th place, which shows that especially Syria is still extremely far from having a functional administration and thus security for the general population. A final index to be shared here is the Freedom House Index from 2021 which depicts freedom of speech and sharing information through independent journalism: Syria 1/100 (not free), Jordan 33/100 (not free) and Lebanon 42/100 (partly free). Afterwards, he described important developments in the three countries. 

Mr. Mühlberger’s presentation was followed by a detailed overview of the current political and socio-economic situation in Syria from the journalist and Middle East expert Kristin Helberg. She explained that the country continues to be divided into four different areas: the regime-controlled areas, the Kurdish controlled area in the northeast, the northern parts occupied by Turkey and the rebel/IS controlled areas. All areas struggle immensely to provide housing, electricity, security, affordable food, etc but show slight differences nevertheless. A monthly teacher salary for example in the regime-controlled areas is 24$, whilst in the Kurdish controlled area it is approximately 65 - 75$. Bread costs 2500 £S in the regime controlled areas, whilst 2000 £S in the Kurdish controlled areas. Her conclusion was that the most likely scenario for Syria is that it remains in this dire, fragile state in the next years and voluntary return to Syria cannot be recommended. 

Nevertheless, a few returnees decided to return from Europe in the last few years – mainly due to family reasons. Germany, Austria and the Netherlands started an ERRIN pilot project for reintegration support in Syria. The implementing reintegration organization was ETTC Iraq with local staff present in Syria. 24 returnees were assisted in 2022. 

The afternoon session of the workshop dealt with the topic of blood revenge and voluntary return to the Middle East. Robert Ermers (PhD) gave an input first. Afterwards, the participants discussed in working groups return cases with this particular issue. The afternoon ended with an input from Sawsan Sakhel, the project coordinator of Caritas Jordan. She described the reintegration assistance Caritas Jordan provides and gave some examples of successful business start-ups.

Conference: Return and old age – return and reintegration counselling for elderly migrants 

With this conference, the organizers of the Transnational Exchange V events tackled a topic which had not been discussed in the context of workshops or conference for AVRR counsellors before. According to Dr. Horn, the governments and leading organizations in the field of AVRR work with a certain youth gaze. The programs focus mainly on assisting returnees who are still young enough to start a business and/or to be reintegrated in the labor market with the idea that the reintegration support for the group would decrease the risk for remigration to Europe. In terms of vulnerable returning groups, the main manuals by IOM provide guidelines on protecting minors, women and mentally/physically ill persons in the return process. Elderly migrants are rarely payed attention to in the voluntary return discussions. Looking only at the German voluntary return numbers, a certain number of returnees aged 60+ benefitted from the REAG/GARP program - 2017: 548, 2018: 482, 2019: 380, 2020: 197 (Source: IOM Germany). Regarding the reintegration support, ERRIN supported 187 returnees age 60+ in 2021 (Source: BAMF). The main three countries of return with regards to ERRIN assistance were Armenia, Russia and Iraq. 

The conference was structured in three parts: an update on AVRR in Europe including the introduction of the AVRR counselling systems in Malta and Croatia, an introduction to the topic of old age and return as well as an overview of the JRS project by Frontex. The conference took place online on the 05th and 6th of April 2022.The content of the conference will be published in a brochure in the next couple of months. For now, you can find the conference agenda here.

Field trip to Austria

The second field trip of the Transnational ExchangeV project took place on the 15^th and 16^th of March 2022 with a group of six European return counsellors from Croatia, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. The Federal Agency for Reception and Support Services (BBU) in Austria was only founded in 2020 after the legal framework of the BBU foundation was laid in the BBU Establishment Act and passed on the 16.05.2019. The BBU offers to (rejected) asylum seekers basic care in reception centers, legal advice and legal representation during and mostly after the first decision of the asylum procedure, return counselling and return assistance, human rights monitoring during deportations and interpretation and translation services. The BBU as the only provider of AVRR counselling in Austria since 2020 hired many of the previous return and reintegration counsellors from Caritas Austria and the Human Rights Association Austria (VMÖ).

The agenda of the Transnational Exchange V field visit was packed with exchange sessions with representatives from the different BBU services, a representative of the Ministry of the Interior who is overseeing the reintegration projects and IOM. The group also visited the main reception center for newly arriving asylum seekers in Traiskirchen close to Vienna. The visit ended with a long exchange session about the counselling systems in the EU countries of the participating counsellors.

You find the complete report on the Field visit to Austria here.

4. Workshop: Addiction as a challenge in the return process

The online workshop took place on the 3rd and 4th of November 2021. Offering assisted voluntary return and reintegration counselling to persons struggling with addiction such as alcohol addiction, drug addiction, medication addiction, etc. holds many challenges. Nevertheless, representatives of this vulnerable group want to return and ask for help. The workshop started with a short medical introduction to addiction and its effects on body and mind. Afterwards the participating counsellors were assigned to online working groups in which they discussed different scenarios of addicted clients who showed more or less willingness to discuss their addiction in the return counselling process and how they would work with the clients then. The findings from the working group were enhanced with the input by an addiction counsellor who spoke mainly about the counselling method "Motivational Interviewing” when counselling addicted clients throughout the lengthy decision-making process. Another round of discussions took place in the second working group focusing on when and how to end the counselling session when the client is too intoxicated. After addressing counselling topics of the pre-departure phase, IOM Germany held a presentation about the medical preparation for a fit-to-fly state of the returning migrant and the medical escorts who usually accompany addicts during the return flight. The return process, however, is not over after landing in the country of return. The partner organization to which the returnee is referred in many cases can inform about follow-up medical treatment and give psychosocial counseling. According to the experience of the reintegration partner Caritas Georgia, returning addicts usually do not manage to find a job or start their own business. It is rather a success, if the returnees manage to fight their addictions and reintegrate in their social networks. In a final working group session, the participants discussed the cultural influence on the willingness and openness to address addiction in the return counselling setting. The last input of the workshop focused on the nexus of (re)migration and addiction.