Counselling is widely recognised as a key component of the return process and a crucial service to assist third-country nationals and other migrants to obtain correct information about their opportunities to return and reintegrate in their country of origin, as well as their legal possibilities to remain in Europe. Complementing outreach and general information provision, counselling on return and reintegration opportunities entails building a dialogue to plan the safe and dignified return of an individual, and as such is fully integrated in Assisted Voluntary Return (and Reintegration) Programmes and, in some Member States also in the process for forced removals. To ensure that they can provide migrants with timely, unbiased and reliable information, return counsellors require appropriate training and support.
This inform analyses and reports on Member States’, non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) and international organisations’ (IOs) policies and practices for the training and support of return counsellors.
This is the second Inform in a series of three produced by the European Migration Network on return counselling, which are the result of a proposal by IOM to the EMN to engage in research focusing on identifying best practices related to outreach, counselling and information provision in (assisted voluntary) return and reintegration processes.
Read first Inform: Policies and practices on return counselling for migrants in EU Member States and Norway
Read third Inform: Policies and practices on outreach and information provision for the voluntary return of migrants in EU Member States and Norway
