Hidden Resources:Refugee Experience and Politics of Peacebuilding

Voluntary repatriation of refugees and their resettlement has become a basic feature of peacebuilding. Return of refugees complements other activities towards political, social and economic stability of post-conflict countries and serves as solution to the challenges presented by protracted refugee situations.From policy point of view return has benefits for the home country and the refugee. Research however, calls for a conceptualization of return of refugees as a complex movement of people which presents a number of challenges for the post conflict state and the returnees. Moreover, for most of the refugees, especially, those in camps and settlements in developing countries, return to home countries appears to be much better than being in exile.This book therefore examines returnees engagement in peacebuilding by analyzing the transformation in refugee resources and the deployment of their resources towards their individual reintegration and community rebuilding after return.The result is that given an enabling environment which includes policies and program both in the asylum and home countries, returning refugees are resources for peacebuilding.

Autorentext

Amanda Coffie is Research Fellow at University of Ghana. Her research spans a continuum of forced migration, from conflict zones, through asylum, repatriation and transnational. Her work attends to issues of forced displacement, security, asylum policies, and programs of host countries and international organizations as well as peacebuilding.