Return: voluntary, safe, dignified and durable?

Voluntary return in safety and with dignity has long been a core tenet of the international refugee regime. In the 23 articles on ‘Return’ in this issue of FMR, authors explore various obstacles to achieving sustainable return, discuss the need to guard against premature or forced return, and debate the assumptions and perceptions that influence policy and practice. This issue also includes a mini-feature on ‘Towards understanding and addressing the root causes of displacement’.

Contents
From the editors
Shared obstacles to return: Rohingya and South Sudanese
South Sudanese returns: perceptions and responses
Return decision making by refugees
Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India: return or integration?
Syrians in Germany: individuals’ reasons for returning or remaining
Working with ‘stayee’ communities: learning from Eritrea
Repatriation principles under pressure
Durable solutions for returnee children
Syrian refugees’ return from Lebanon
Encouraging Syrian return: Turkey’s fragmented approach
The politics of return from Jordan to Syria
Rethinking Somali refugee solutions in Kenya
Educating for return: Somali refugees in Dadaab
Forced to return? Facilitated return of refugees to Myanmar
A premature attempt at cessation
Repatriation with dignity
Minority return: the way home
Legal preparedness for return to Syria
Return to Syria after evading conscription
IDPs of East Beirut versus the Lebanese State
Emerging options for durable solutions in Darfur
Political and economic reintegration: key to successful return
Returns in complex environments: the case of South Sudan