Durable solutions: to what and for whom?

Abstract

The three durable solutions (resettlement, local integration, and repatriation) are out of reach to most refugees. Even when they are offered, they are often watered down or repackaged, so that their durability has been undermined. This paper examines their contemporary role and framing and proposes an urgent recalibration of our understanding of the solutions based around three interlinked elements. First, to recover the core function of all three durable solutions, namely the (re)gaining of citizenship; in order, second, to shift the conversation away from assumptions about the sedentary nature of durable solutions; which, third, draws out a greater understanding of the potential collaboration and connections between these traditional solutions and ground-level solutions that refugees create for themselves. We argue that not only are each of these elements important in and of themselves, but they also need to be viewed as indivisible.