Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration
AVRR is a core activity of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) which enables tens of thousands of migrants to return home every year. To date IOM Egypt has helped a total of migrants from all around the world return home, and supported the reintegration of returnees. This includes Egyptian migrants returning to Egypt, as well as foreign migrants from Egypt returning to their countries of origin.
Helping Egyptians Return Home
IOM has supported the return of Egyptians stranded in Europe, and their subsequent socio-economic reintegration in Egypt since 2011. Most of the returnees choose to start-up their own businesses with the reintegration assistance provided, improving both their own livelihood and that of their community. One of the main vulnerable categories of Egyptian returnees that IOM is increasingly assisting is Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UMCs) who cross the Mediterranean alone in search of a new life in Europe. For UMCs, IOM Egypt and its government partners make significant efforts to ensure that the best interest of the child is at the heart of their return and reintegration.
Helping Migrants Return Home
IOM offers AVRR services to migrants who are unwilling or unable to remain in Egypt and wish to return to their country of origin. The AVRR programme in Egypt started in 2011 and since then stranded and vulnerable migrants mainly from Africa and Asia were assisted. Each of these migrants have a distinct migratory story of how they got to Egypt and why they wanted to return. Some of these migrants survived exceptional circumstance, such as trafficking, abuse, as well as other numerous forms of exploitation. Returning migrants receive reintegration grants in their country of origin and the vast majority use in starting-up their own business, specifically in the agriculture sector.
