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