UNHCR Protection Manual - Related sources

The paper begins by examining the principle of voluntariness and provides a historical overview of the challenges that UNHCR has faced in translating that principle in practice. It goes on to consider the continued usefulness of the principle of voluntariness and asks whether safety is a more appropriate criteria on which to base UNHCR’s engagement in a repatriation operation. Finally, the paper examines how the cessation of refugee status is linked to policy and practice in relation to refugee repatriation. It ends by offering a number of conclusions on UNHCR’s engagement with the principles and practices of voluntary repatriation.

This paper considers the potential contribution that regularized labour migration could make to UNHCR's understandings of durable solutions for refugees. It considers the limits of the three traditional durable solutions. It also looks into the potential benefits regularised labour migration could offer to UNHCR's durable solutions framework. Further, it considers the obstacles to the implementation of solutions base on regularised labour, particularly state resistance and the susceptibility of such labour migrants to fluctuations in economic demand.

This paper examines the main elements and limitations of the ECOWAS free movement protocols. It evaluates the degree to which the protocols have been implemented in ECOWAS member states and identifies their utility to refugees from ECOWAS countries residing in other ECOWAS countries. It queries whether the protocols constitute a sound legal basis for member states to extend residence and work rights to refugees with ECOWAS citizenship residing in their territories who are willing to seek and carry out employment. It specifically looks at Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees to achieve the legal aspects of local integration in West Africa.

This guide focuses on the legal process and framework, which is in many ways a pre-requisite for the realization of the other dimensions of successful integration. It is a process which should lead to permanent residence rights and ultimately, the acquisition of citizenship. Beyond securing legal rights, the economic and socio-cultural dimensions of life in the country of asylum are also integral to successful integration. As such, the recommended standards set out in this guide will reflect the importance for refugees of attaining a growing degree of self-reliance, being able to pursue sustainable livelihoods and contributing to the economic life of the host country.