Access to Repatriation: The Value of Refugee's Previous Education and Livelihoods

Abstract

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and even the host countries, foster policies and conditions in refugee camps that restrict refugee use of previous education or livelihoods with which they could provide for their needs in exile. Would policies, which provide access to and use of previous education and livelihoods enhance refugee camp services? Would such policies improve options for and reduce time to repatriation? Typically the majority of refugees currently spend five or more years in exile, without an option to repatriate to their previous home country and location within it. If policies improved access to use of their education and livelihoods, would this alter refugee services' expectations that refugees will adapt and acculturate to host countries, rather than eventually return to their countries of origin? This thesis will argue that by anticipating repatriation, UNHCR and host countries policies would improve refugee services by fostering programs that assist refugees in using previous education and livelihoods, and thereby, reduce time between initial exile and repatriation. The same improved programs would also aid refugees in taking care of themselves outside of camps during exile in host countries. Another benefit, I argue, is that the ability to use previous education and livelihood would allow refugees to make better decisions about where to settle in their home country when repatriating. The assumption to this is a limit of the thesis to refugees who are adults when the exile began.