GAPS in migrant return policies

The issue of return migration is a key aspect of asylum governance at the national and EU levels. Despite its political importance, there is no agreed definition of what is meant by the term ‘return’. The GAPs consortium will seek to address this through the development of governance and cooperation models for return migration that promote partnership and uphold the dignity of the migration experience. The consortium members will focus on return gaps in three return systems between EU countries and countries of transit or origin, spanning the wider Middle East (including Afghanistan), Africa (northern and western), and eastern Europe. In this project, the heuristic concept of ‘gaps’ serves to highlight three interrelated dimensions:

1) governance,

2) international cooperation and

3) migrants’ agency.

The three-year project will result in a plethora of outputs, including country dossiers and comparative reports, an interactive data repository on return, a return cooperation index, policy briefs and workshops, stakeholder expert panels, a digital storytelling and video series, a massive open online course (MOOC), open access scholarly publications and an anthology book of life stories. There will also be two workshops in Brussels and a final conference targeting policymakers and key stakeholders.

Find more information on the GAPS website

Publications

Journal article

Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Triandafyllidou, A.

Coerced return: formal policies, informal practices and migrants’ navigation

Sussex Centre for Migration Research , Brighton (2024)

Open
Other

Vollmer, R.

Nomination of “Remigration” as Un-word of the year

(2024)

Open
Report

Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Yilmaz-Elmas, F.

GAPs Data Repository on Return: Guideline, Data Samples and Codebook

(2024)

Open
Report

Mielke, K., & Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Wolf, D.

Legal and Policy Infrastructures of Returns in Germany

GAPs , Bonn (2024)

Open
Report

Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Triandafyllidou, A., & Barthoma, S., & Nimer, M., & Rottman, S., & Ozturk, N., & Istaiteyeh, R.

Framework paper on the concepts and typologies on returns - combined with four conceptual notes

(2023)

Open
Other

Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Kurt, M.

The politicization of refugees in Turkey’s elections is not yet over with local elections on the way...

(2023)

Open
Other

Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Barthoma, S.

No place for refuge and no place for (eventual) return of Palestinians in Gaza

(2023)

Open
Other

Yildirim-Schlüsing, C., & Meininghaus, E.

Yazidis in Germany: Don’t Deport - Negotiate

(2023)

Open
Other

Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Meininghaus, E.

Syrian Refugee Returns, Reintegration Experiences and Risks

(2023)

Open

Events

Thursday, 22nd February, 2024
IN-PERSON

German Return Policy and the German Deportation Regime

Monday, 5th February, 2024
Online

Joint Webinar: Reconsidering EU's Partnership and Cooperation Models on Return and Readmission

Monday, 27th November, 2023
Hybrid

Ukraine: 21 Months of Displacement – What Do We Know So Far?

Friday, 23rd June, 2023
Online

The GAPs project has launched at BICC!

Project Team

Dr Zeynep Şahin-Mencütek

Senior Researcher

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Dr Katja Mielke

Senior Researcher

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Ruth Vollmer

Researcher

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Dr Lamis Saleh

Senior Researcher

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Daphne Wolf

Student Assistant \ GAPs project

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Selina Engelberth

Student Assistant

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Project Partners