Name of the country visited:  Switzerland

Visited Organization: Caritas Goldau, Caritas Switzerland, Swiss Red Cross and IOM Switzerland

Donors:   SEM

Structure:

The assisted voluntary return (AVR) in Switzerland shall be described in the following paragraph. In the beginning it needs to be mentioned that AVR counselling differs immensely in different Swiss Cantons (26 total) since the awarding of the AVR mandate is an assignment of the federal states/Cantons and not of the national government. Only 20% of AVR is offered by social welfare organizations. The financial assistance, however, is uniformly provided by the Staatssekretariat für Migration (SEM). An adult returnee obtains 500 CHF if he returns within his/her first three months in Switzerland or if he/she is in a Dublin procedure and returns to the country of origin instead of another European country. Children receive half. If a person decides to return after staying longer than three months, he/she is entitled to 1000 CHF financial help, 3000 CHF material assistance and if necessary medical assistance of 2000 CHF. The refugees are being informed about the option of voluntary return from the very beginning of their stay in Switzerland. The asylum seeker stays in one out of five reception centers during the first three months; IOM offers AVR here. When the asylum seeker is assigned to a Canton, the Cantonal AVR counsellor will provide the counselling. In the first counselling sessions the motivation of return, the perspective in host and home country, the availability of reintegration offers, the preparation of an income generating business concept and the organization of further assistance are being discussed. The counsellor can pose anonymous requests to IOM for country specific information (Return Information Fund). After three to four sessions a definite decision needs to be made by the returnee. In order to organize the travel document, several returnees depending on the nationality need to withdraw their asylum application first. If the desire to return voluntarily has not changed, the return counsellor applies for the flight ticket at SEM, sends IOM the preliminary business plan which will be check by an IOM worker in the country of origin, applies for the financial assistance at SEM, clears insurance and tax issues and takes the role of a coordinator between the returnee and IOM whenever assistance for a vulnerable returnee is needed (SwissREPAT-IOM-Movement). The cash assistance is only given to the returnee at the airport. The return counsellors have little insight into the reintegration assistance since the money is paid to the returnee in installments by local IOM workers. The counsellors are not or hardly involved in or informed about the reintegration process of the returnees. IOM executes the monitoring itself.

Vulnerability:

In case a returnee requires special assistance due to his/her vulnerability, IOM Bern takes over the preparation of return and the AVR counsellor takes the role as a coordinator and mediator. IOM Bern is specialized in AVR for vulnerable returnees and organizes the following help:
- Unaccompanied Minors: After having executed a family assessment (local IOM workers in the home country) the legal guardian needs to agree to the voluntary return of the minor. In general, IOM wants returning minors to continue their education. Therefore, IOM Bern searches for the best education project and prefers not to spend the reintegration assistance (3000CHF) on work projects. However, they are willing to make exceptions especially for young Iraqi men (age 16 - 17) who are often bread winners and only want to work. In this case, IOM favors the reintegration money to be used to buy a share of the family business in the country of return rather than letting the young returnee start his own business. If the returnee is still quite young, a travel escort can also be arranged.
- Physically or psychologically ill returnees: IOM is never in direct contact with the returnee and relies fully on the information of the counsellor. The attending physician is asked to fill out a document in order to assess the travel fitness. The filled out document is sent afterwards to an IOM travel doctor who lives in the region of return and judges the condition of the returnee considering the airworthiness and the reintegration chances. Only if both doctors agree to the return, the organization of departure can be continued. Medicine for the duration of six months can be purchased in Switzerland or in the country of return. In the case of medical coverage, the medicine is always provided for six months, even if it costs more than 5000 CHF. If the returnee is not capable of travelling alone, a medical travel assistance (sometime a physician from the country of return is flown to Switzerland in order to pick of the returnee; he will also be the medical contact person after return) or a social travel assistance (relatives, social workers, etc.) will be organized. Whenever a returnee receives travel assistance, a relative or friend is required to pick the returnee up from the airport (hand over).
- Elderly returnees: the reintegration money can also be used as "cash for care”. Relatives in the country of return receive the reintegration money in installments (3000CHF) in order to care for the elderly person. In this case, the return counsellor needs to decide in the respective cases whether the returnee is too old to work or not.
- Single mothers: single mothers can receive in addition to the reintegration money financial assistance for accommodation since they will have a hard time to find a job and take care of the kids at the same time

Numbers:

In 2015 2132 persons left Switzerland voluntarily, of which 1043 received little to no financial assistance due to the short duration of stay and 944 received individual financial assistance (up to 5000 CHF in total). In general, one can say that the voluntary return numbers increase relative to the number of arriving asylum seekers. The workers of the migration authority of the Canton Zug stated that in their Canton the ratio between forced and voluntary return for 2015 was 90/10.

Resume:

The Swiss return counsellors can assist the returnees well due to the high financial assistance, the good connection with the SEM and other public authorities, the IOM expert assistance for vulnerable cases and great tools (such as a manual for return counselling from the Swiss red cross, a manual for vulnerable returnees from IOM and many more publications from IOM). The lady from the Swiss Red Cross mentioned a need for more support of returning migrants which do not receive the financial assistance from SEM and for prisoners. The Swiss migration law is quite strict. Persons with a negative decision have thirty days to leave the country voluntarily. Afterwards they will be imprisoned and be treated worse than real criminals, until they get deported. 

 

Name of the country visited:   Kingdom of Denmark

Visited Organization:  Danish Refugee Council

Donors: Danish State, DANIDA, ECHO, UNHCR, KMSS, Norad, Irish Aid, US State Department, SDC, private funding (for all of DRC activities)

Structure:
2 types of counselling:
1. Counselling for asylum seekers and rejected asylum seekers
The counselling for asylum seekers is only provided by legal advisors who help clients to understand their chances for obtaining a residence permit or not. When a client receives his/her rejection, the legal advisor helps filing an application for review and possibly files a complaint with international courts or human rights committees. At the same time the clients are always being encouraged to leave. This type of counselling is held in various reception centers and in one detention center in order to promote the option for a voluntary return.

2. Repatriation Counselling
The repatriation counselling only applies to refugees who fled their country because of war and persecution in their home countries (Section 7 and 8 of the Danish Aliens Act) with a residence permit in Denmark and refugees with a humanitarian residence permit (Section 9c of the Danish Aliens Act). The clients can receive individual counselling at the DRC office or through telephone since only 4 repatriation counsellors exist in all of Denmark. The Danish Red Cross will offer repatriation counselling soon. During the counselling session the advantages such as the return to the own culture, financial support and new opportunities and disadvantages such as lower accessibility of housing, education and medical treatment are weighed out. The client does not have to leave Denmark. If the client nevertheless decides to return, the actual organization of the return is executed by the municipalities (information about the leaving process and the support, flight tickets). Therefore, the repatriation counsellor normally speaks to a client once or twice.
The client has the right to revoke his decision within his/her first year after his return. Due to the right of cancellation the client can return to Denmark without any reason.

Financial support for returnees with residence permit in Denmark:
The municipalities will first check whether the client has any personal assets. If not, the client receives DKK 50000 if single or DKK 100000 if married from the municipalities. If the client qualifies for financial support under the Repatriation Act, he/she will receive a flight ticket, free transport of personal belongings (up to 2m³ per person), financial support for the re-establishment in the home country (DKK 51,772 at the departure and DKK 77658,510 after 1 year in the come country),  business equipment, expenses for health insurance. If an applicant is older than 55 years, has had the residence permit for more than 5 years in Denmark and is entitled to a (disability) pension, payments can receive a small pension over a longer period of time (see http://flygtning.dk/danmark/om-at-vende-hjem/for-flygtninge/engelsk/).

Numbers:
Most clients who qualify for the repatriation counselling and the high financial support are Turkish, elderly people who came to Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s. The DRC receives approximately 3000 – 4000 inquiries. Approximately 300 cases are finished per year.

Monitoring:
The repatriation counsellors are legally not allowed to do the follow up or even doing a monitoring visit. However, voluntary contact initiated by the client is welcomed. Most of the returnees cut ties with Denmark fully.

Public knowledge:
Voluntary return has strongly been emphasized in the media since 2010. The increase awareness also derived from a raise of the financial support for returnees. Until June 2015 the social democratic government gave funds and supported the basic counselling (humane treatment).

 

Name of the country visited:  Belgium

Visited Organization: Caritas International Belgium

Donors:   FEDASIL, AMIF by European Union

Structure:
The Assisted Voluntary Return happens in two steps. The first step of the counselling procedure is implemented by return counsellors. The return counsellors are social workers all over Belgium who see clients with all kinds of concerns (asylum procedures, family reunification, return counselling). If the client is interested in returning voluntarily, the return counsellor learns more about the client and assigns him to the appropriate category of the “program for return and reintegration”. Clients fall under certain categories according to their status. Category A holds asylum seekers. Category B represents persons whose asylum request was declined. Category C stands for the undocumented, irregular migrants. The forth category is assigned to persons who came from visa-free countries and overstayed their permitted time. The return counsellor provides the ticket and some travel money for category C and the fourth one through the REAB program. If a client falls under the category A or B, he is entitled to reintegration support which goes up to 700 € per adult and 350€ per child.

The reintegration counselling is provided by reintegration counsellors, of who only 9 exist in all of Belgium. 5 reintegration counsellors work for IOM, 4 for CIB. They connect the clients with reintegration partners and optionally check whether FEDASIL might offer more financial support if the client is extremely vulnerable. Category A may receive extra funding up to 1500€ in order to start an income generating business in the home country. Aside from the business plan the client is getting connected with a local partner organization which will assist the returnee with the reintegration. The 1500 € can not only be used to start a business, but also to pay for accommodation, for job placement, for medical costs or education. The reintegration counsellor will decide in alignment with the client how the money shall be used.
Since FEDASIL works closely with CIB and IOM, FEDASIL will grant several exceptions concerning extra funding for vulnerable returnees if the reintegration counsellor provides FEDASIL with enough evidence and arguments. This also implies that CIB has access to funds throughout the entire year.
Partners: CIB is part of ERSO. It plays a leading role concerning building relations with reintegration partners all over the world. They have up to 50 partners. Therefore CIB often represents the link between AVR counsellors in Europe and reintegration partners (focal point). 

History: The alien office had “return centers” from 2001 until 2004. However, the return was not successful. As a result AVR was established in 2004. Certain nationalities were entitled to 700€ support (Ukraine, WEB, the Caucasus region). In 2010 FEDASIL increased the budget up to 1500€ per person. It was the counsellors task to assign money to the returnee based upon his/her profile. Within the following years, however, the demand for support of voluntary return increased immensely (7500 returnees supported with the return or reintegration funds) which caused a great deficit in the budget of FEDASIL. The return numbers had rocketed.  A reaction towards this phenomenon was the restrictions installed in 2012 which aimed at managing migration and the support according to the status of a returnee.  A new slogan was advertised by the government: “Voluntary return if possible, forced return if needed” in order to deal with the great numbers of arriving refugees and work migrants. Since 2014 the return numbers decreased slightly which led again to a higher financial flexibility of FEDASIL towards the support of vulnerable returnees. WEB returnees received no funding though. In 2015 1 out of 4 returnees returned to Iraq.

Monitoring:
Caritas International Belgium has designed a narrative report which is being filled out by the local reintegration partner. The goal is to track the reintegration process through 3 monitoring conversations. Next to the partner who conducts the monitoring interviews, phone call monitoring and monitoring visits are also part of their procedure.

Vulnerability:
As mentioned above CIB provides extra support for vulnerable persons in cooperation with FEDASIL. Every case needs to be approved by FEDASIL. If accepted, the client can receive support add-ons in 500€ steps according to the level of vulnerability. Aside from that CIB has invested in research concerning AVR of vulnerable persons and has published several pamphlets. “Voluntary return and reintegration of UAMs: Challenges and Perspectives – Exchange Report on the reintegration of UAMs in Guinea, Cameroon, Morocco and Senegal” (Link), “Exchange of reintegration practices in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Russia” (Link) and “Manual – Reintegration of Disadvanteged and Vulnerable persons in Mongolia, Pakistan and Iraq” (ERSO SURE).

Name of country visited: Greece

Visited Organizations: Refugee Program Caritas Athens, IOM Greece, Stegi +, the Ecumenical Refugee Program from the Greek Orthodox Church, ARSIS

Greece was chosen as a destination for an explorative work visit to possible providers of voluntary return assistance. The visit took place in May 2016. Greece played a major role as a European country of arrival for refugees in 2015 and first half of 2016. Several welfare organizations mentioned an offer of AVR on their homepages. During the visit it became clear that all of the organizations only referred interested clients to IOM and didn’t offer it themselves.

IOM as AVR Provider:
IOM Greece with the head office in Athens holds a monopoly on AVR. During a meeting with Mr. Esdros, Head of Mission IOM Greece, AVR in Greece was explained as the following:  social workers counsel interested clients at the IOM office. Every client independent from his/her status receives 400 Euros upon return. A simple voluntary return can be organized within one week, since IOM has established great relationships with the authorities and foreign embassies. Mr. Esdros stated that assisted voluntary return was one of the greatest humanitarian works at current time. This statement is based upon the lacking social care which causes rejected as well as recognized asylum seekers and illegal migrants to live in the streets without accommodation and food. Therefore, the short preparation time for the return means less days on the streets – in Greece at least. 10 – 15% of the returnees qualify for reintegration support which amounts to 1500 Euros. The additional financial assistance is given to vulnerable returnees, young persons with high future prospects or persons who own land or a store in the country of return. The business plan is prepared in Athens with the social worker. The money itself is paid out in installments in the country of return by local IOM staff members. It was emphasized that the supported returnee had to show great commitment (meet deadlines, bring all the invoices) after the return. Otherwise the financial support would be cancelled immediately. Especially in the case of vulnerable returnees this system is quite questionable.

Funding: AMIF and EEA-Grants from Norway, Island and Lichtenstein, British Government

Return numbers and trends:
Between 01.01.2016 and the 19.05.2016 967 Moroccans, 365 Afghans, 346 Iranians, 289 Iraqi, 174 Georgians and other less represented nationalities returned to their home countries voluntarily with the support of IOM Greece. The total number of voluntary returns in the above mentioned period is 2393. Higher numbers of returns are expected since Greece was and still is going through a change. Greece used to be a transit country for the arriving refugees. The time of transit varied between a couple of days and a couple of weeks. The Macedonian borders to Greece, however, got completely closed to refugees from the 22.02.2016 onwards, which caused the refugees to stay in Greece. On the 4th of April 2016 the agreement between the EU and Turkey entered into force. Ever since then a lot less refugees arrived on the Greek islands from Turkey (the number of arrivals for the Greek islands was more than a 1000 per day in March 2016; on 22.05.2016 41 persons arrived on the islands). Therefore, Greece has changed from being a transit country to a host country. Due to the low economy, several financial crises in the past and a lacking social welfare system many illegal migrants from the Maghreb countries lost their low income jobs and return to their home countries as well as refugees who never wanted to seek asylum in Greece. Greece survived relatively well as a transit country. As a host country it is absolutely overwhelmed.

Vulnerable groups:
Several Greek institutions were visited which catered especially to vulnerable groups: Refugee Program Caritas Athens, Stegi +, the Ecumenical Refugee Program from the Greek Orthodox Church and ARSIS. At Stegi +, a shelter for unaccompanied minors (UM), the staff assists the UMs whenever a desire for voluntary return is being voiced. In this case the staff accompanies the UM to the counselling sessions at IOM and is in contact with the legal guardian. Between 2014 and 2016 ten UMs returned to Maghreb States, Lebanon and Turkey. Ms Sissy Levanti, a social worker at Stegi +, mentioned that amongst some of the returnees were cases of abduction. The Egyptian children were taken forcefully from their families in order to be brought to Italy. Whenever the stranded children found out that they had arrived in Greece, they wanted to return. Other vulnerable groups were not specifically assisted in their voluntary return.