This book analyzes three major issues related to refugees: repatriation and its accompanying concerns – peace and security. Since the late 1980s, repatriation has been considered the most appropriate solution for refugees. This applies if the home country is peaceful, but often repatriation takes places in conflict situations, which can lead to national and human insecurity problems. Rwanda is one of the countries where the question of repatriation has become highly controversial since the 1990s. The United Nations maintains that Rwanda has changed significantly since the 1994 genocide, and today enjoys an essential level of peace and security. This explains why the UN has promoted repatriation and recommended the cessation of Rwandan refugee status, yet the vast majority of refugees have refused to return to the country. Providing insights from researchers, former UN staff members, journalists, and, most importantly, former Rwandan refugees themselves into both the theory and practice of refugees' repatriation as well as the security and peace issues, this book appeals to postgraduate students, academics, policymakers, and practitioners working for international organizations and NGOs.

Protracted refugee populations not only constitute over 70% of the world's refugees but are also a principal source of many of the irregular movements of people around the world today. The long-term presence of refugee populations in much of the developing world has come to be seen by many host states in these regions as a source of insecurity. In response, host governments have enacted policies of containing refugees in isolated and insecure camps, have prevented the arrival of additional refugees and, in extreme cases, have engaged in forcible repatriation. Not surprisingly, these refugee populations are also increasingly perceived as possible sources of insecurity for Western states. Refugee camps are sometimes breeding grounds for international terrorism and rebel movements. These groups often exploit the presence of refugees to engage in activities that destabilise not only host states but also entire regions.

The Darfur crisis has left behind a profound legacy of displacement, with some 300,000 refugees camped on the Chadian side of the border and about 2 million displaced internally within Darfur. Despite a reduction in armed hostilities and violent casualties since 2006, as well as a peace agreement signed at Doha in 2011, limited signs of voluntary repatriation are visible from eastern Chad; where refugees are seemingly willing, but not ready, to return. Further to the Doha peace settlement, they require genuine peace to be in place on the ground, marked by visible changes in the security landscape of Sudan. In particular, they ask for the prosecution of war criminals, disarmament of local militias, adequate compensation for human and physical losses, local reconstruction, and the departure of populations who have settled on their lands in the aftermath of mass atrocities. The marked demographic changes having taken place in Darfur over the past decade, and a ‘peace’ that fails to fully address impunity and be widely accepted, make the fulfillment of these requests seem far-fetched at present. While voluntary return is being discussed nationally and regionally, refugees underscore their profound need for justice and personal safety by remaining in the camps. When and how conditions for safe and dignified return will be met is something they are still carefully considering.

This book overcomes the dichotomies, generalizations and empirical shortcomings that surround the understanding of return migration within the migration–development–peace-building nexus. Using the concept of multidimensional embeddedness, it provides an encompassing view of returnees’ identification with and participation in one or multiple spaces of belonging. It introduces Afghan return migration from Europe as a relevant case study, since the country’s protracted history of conflict and migration shows how the globally changing political discourses of recent decades have shaped migration strategies. The author’s findings highlight the fact that policy is responding inadequately to complex issues of migration, conflict, development and return, since the expectations on which it is based only account for a small minority of returnees. This thought-provoking book will appeal to scholars of migration and refugee studies, as well as a wider audience of sociologists, anthropologists, demographers and policy makers.

How are refugee crises solved? This has become an urgent question as global displacement rates continue to climb, and refugee situations now persist for years if not decades. The resolution of displacement and the conflicts that force refugees from their homes is often explained as a top-down process led and controlled by governments and international organizations. This book takes a different approach. Through contributions from scholars working in politics, anthropology, law, sociology and philosophy, and a wide range of case studies, it explores the diverse ways in which refugees themselves interpret, create and pursue solutions to their plight. It investigates the empirical and normative significance of refugees’ engagement as agents in these processes, and their implications for research, policy and practice. This book speaks both to academic debates and to the broader community of peacebuilding, humanitarian and human rights scholars concerned with the nature and dynamics of agency in contentious political contexts, and identifies insights that can inform policy and practice.

Contributors from Japan, Korea, and China explore the reaction of the United Nations to emerging global issues. A collaboration between the Japan Association for United Nations Studies with the Korea Academic Council on the United Nations System and the China Academic Net for United Nations Studies, this book presents a range of perspectives from both academics and practitioners. The areas explored and discussed include global governance, peace and security, global health governance, global citizenship, nuclear disarmament, and the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular and among other issues it addresses both the coordination of COVID-19 management and responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. An invaluable, diverse, and concertedly non-Western approach to the challenges facing the UN.

Brash hustlers, sinister colonels, resilient refugees, and intrepid radio hosts: meet the future of Congo In this extraordinary debut – called ‘gripping’ by The Times of London – Ben Rawlence sets out to gather the news from a forgotten town deep in Congo’s ‘silent quarter’ where peace is finally being built after two decades of civil war and devastation. Ignoring the advice of locals, reporters, and mercenaries, he travels by foot, bike, and boat, introducing us to Colonel Ibrahim, a guerrilla turned army officer; Benjamin, the kindly father of the most terrifying Mai Mai warlord; the cousins Mohammed and Mohammed, young tin traders hoping to make their fortune; and talk show host Mama Christine, who dispenses counsel and courage in equal measure. From the ‘blood cheese’ of Goma to the decaying city of Manono, Rawlence uncovers the real stories of life during the war and finds hope for the future.