Attaining Durability in the European Resettlement Regime : The Role of Norms and Values

Resettlement is a tool for the international protection of refugees which has received increased attention by the EU and member states in the wake of the 2015 refugee reception crisis. This report asks how to best ensure that resettlement functions as a durable solution for refugee protection, as is intended by the UNHCR. Here we consider ideas, practices, and actors within the European resettlement regime – from selection in first countries of asylum to the reception of resettlement beneficiaries and their integration in receiving municipalities. Our analysis is based on interviews and participant observation with actors involved in all steps of resettlement to Germany and Sweden, and from local and international organizations in countries of first asylum (Lebanon and Turkey), as well as comparative insights from the USA. Based on the best practices observed in our research material we provide recommendations that we deem conducive to a more holistic and humanitarian approach to resettlement. This includes facilitating spaces for resettlement beneficiaries’ agency throughout the regime, for ‘eye-level’ encounters of mutual respect between the actors involved, and for thinking long-term and holistically about integration as an intrinsic part of resettlement. Ultimately, we argue that centring durability in the different processes of resettlement can serve as a way for the EU to commit to the humanitarian values at the core of international refugee protection.Norms and Values in the European Migration and Refugee Crisi