Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GAPs (De-centring the Study of Migrant Returns and Readmission Policies in Europe and Beyond)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-03-01 al 2024-05-31
The EU Member States face political, normative, and operational challenges in returning rejected asylum seekers and 'irregular' migrants to their origin or third countries as well as difficulties in cooperating with transit and origin countries and migrants. The process needs swift, transparent, and cost-effective procedures while ensuring humane and fair treatment in compliance with fundamental rights and EU procedural safeguards. This project investigates the gap between the expected outcomes of EU return policies and the actual results. GAPs aims to decenter the prevailing one-sided understanding of 'return policymaking' by considering multiple perspectives and studying the complex interaction of various actors in the governance of returns, both internally and externally and focusing explicitly on studying practices.
Objectives include
a) scrutinising the shortcomings of the EU’s governance of returns with both its internal and external dimensions.
b) analysing enablers and barriers of international cooperation on readmission.
c) illuminating migrants' perspectives to understand their knowledge of return policies, aspirations, and experiences.
d) co-creating and suggesting alternative pathways and models for existing return policies and practices, and cooperate with stakeholders to contribute to the interplay between policy and science.
The project covers a wide range of countries of destination, origin, and temporary settlement in and beyond Europe, including 12 countries across Europe (Germany, Sweden, Poland, Greece), Africa (Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco), and the broader Middle East (Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Afghanistan), additionally Canada and the UK. The nine work packages focus on themes on conceptual and data issues, legal and policy frameworks in the EU, return infrastructures and practices, south-south return dynamics, international cooperation, public attitudes, aspiration of migrants in transit countries, experiences of returnees in origin countries and alternative pathways. The research adopts a multi-disciplinary approach and a combination of qualitative (desk research and interviews) and quantitative (public attitude and returnee surveys) data collection in both EU and non-EU countries. The evidence and knowledge generated will contribute to scholarly debates and inform public and policy debates.
Objectives include
a) scrutinising the shortcomings of the EU’s governance of returns with both its internal and external dimensions.
b) analysing enablers and barriers of international cooperation on readmission.
c) illuminating migrants' perspectives to understand their knowledge of return policies, aspirations, and experiences.
d) co-creating and suggesting alternative pathways and models for existing return policies and practices, and cooperate with stakeholders to contribute to the interplay between policy and science.
The project covers a wide range of countries of destination, origin, and temporary settlement in and beyond Europe, including 12 countries across Europe (Germany, Sweden, Poland, Greece), Africa (Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco), and the broader Middle East (Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Afghanistan), additionally Canada and the UK. The nine work packages focus on themes on conceptual and data issues, legal and policy frameworks in the EU, return infrastructures and practices, south-south return dynamics, international cooperation, public attitudes, aspiration of migrants in transit countries, experiences of returnees in origin countries and alternative pathways. The research adopts a multi-disciplinary approach and a combination of qualitative (desk research and interviews) and quantitative (public attitude and returnee surveys) data collection in both EU and non-EU countries. The evidence and knowledge generated will contribute to scholarly debates and inform public and policy debates.
The initial phase of the GAPs project involved extensive collaboration to outline the research design stages, maintain open communication and build effective and sustainable cooperation for this large consortium. The work completed so far can be divided into two phases. In the months 1-6, the Coordinators, Work Package Leaders, and all PIs prepared guidelines, organized workshops, arranged periodic meetings, and established their teams. All country teams also applied for ethics approval from their respective national research bodies and developed guidelines, dissemination plans, and data management strategies. Partners involved in WP1 began their work on developing theoretical framework papers and data repositories, while WP2 started to map EU countries' legal and policy frameworks on return and readmission. In the second phase (months 6-15), partners started their fieldwork. They also finalized the WP1 framework paper, concept notes, and data repository. WP2 focused on generating detailed country dossiers that address the legal and policy frameworks in several countries. The evidence was synthesized in a comparative report. The research in WP2 concluded with three in-depth working papers discussing crucial aspects related to return, including irregularization, externalization, and outcomes of eastern partnerships for reintegration. The first EC policy brief was produced, with public release scheduled for September 2022. Stakeholder expert panels were established in all 12 countries, enabling the first engagement for co-production along with all communication and dissemination activities.
Our research process and potential results contribute to a decentralized approach in migration and return studies. This innovative approach is a key strength of our project as it broadens the geographical scope and diverse partnerships, enabling cross-country and multidisciplinary research on return from various epistemological angles. From the outset, the project adopted a comprehensive approach, examining return migration at macro, meso, and micro levels to understand the connections between policies, practices, and experiences. Our research is not limited to EU member states; it also includes transit and origin countries of migrants, including first-hand data collection such as interviews with over 300 stakeholders and 280 migrants/returnees. We can provide a few examples of contributions. In WP1, we offered a typology on coerced returns, distinguishing among pushing, imposing, and incentivizing policies and practices. This typology invites us to see nuances in the forced and voluntary return dichotomy because coercive practices of implementation are embedded in all these types, but the level of coercion varies in different situations. WP2 has revealed a variety of policy focuses and implementation strategies across European member states, which are influenced by their distinct political, social, and geographical contexts. This diversity underscores the challenge of aligning return policies within the EU. One WP2 paper has demonstrated that irregularization is not simply a linear state of irregularity, but rather a dynamic and constantly evolving process, as evidenced by the case study of Greece, while another paper shed light on the instrumentalization of externalization by cooperating countries like Turkey.