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Paying Refugees to Leave

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Mollie Gerver

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Abstract

States are increasingly paying refugees to repatriate, hoping to decrease the number of refugees residing within their borders. Drawing on in-depth interviews from East Africa and data from Israeli Labour Statistics, I provide a description of such payment schemes and consider whether they are morally permissible. In doing so, I address two types of cases. In the first type of case, governments pay refugees to repatriate to high-risk countries, never coercing them into returning. I argue that such payments are permissible if refugees’ choices are voluntary and if states allow refugees to return to the host country in the event of an emergency. I then describe cases where states detain refugees, and non-governmental organisations provide their own payments to refugees wishing to repatriate. In such cases, non-governmental organisations are only permitted to provide payments if the funds are sufficient to ensure post-return safety and if providing payments does not reinforce the government’s detention policy.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Gerver M

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Political Studies

Year: 2017

Volume: 65

Issue: 3

Pages: 631-645

Print publication date: 01/10/2017

Online publication date: 30/01/2017

Acceptance date: 12/09/2016

Date deposited: 10/10/2017

ISSN (print): 0032-3217

ISSN (electronic): 1467-9248

Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321716677607

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321716677607

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