The end of the road? A review of UNHCR's role in the return and reintegration of internally displaced populations

Objectives: This paper was commissioned by UNHCR’s Policy Development and Evaluation Service in order to capture UNHCR’s experience in IDP return and reintegration processes over the past decade, analyse the extent and depth of this involvement and the range of activities undertaken, identify challenges encountered and identify lessons and examples of good practice that could be used to further strengthen UNHCR’s engagement. It seeks to identify those elements which distinguish IDP returns from traditional voluntary repatriation operations for refugees, and to explain what this means for UNHCR’s operational engagement.