What it Takes to Return : UN Peacekeeping and the Safe Return of Displaced People
Can the international community enable conditions for voluntary, safe and sustainable return of displaced people As conflict is key in the decision to leave and to return, this paper investigates whether the deployment of UN peacekeeping operations can reduce the insecurities driving displacement and delaying return. It explores the case of South Sudan, which hosts the second largest UN peace operation in the world. It combines information on peacekeepers' subnational deployment with data on individuals' intention to move and host communities' perceptions of returnees and internally displaced people (IDPs) using two surveys, one carried out between 2015 and 2017 and one in 2018. To mitigate concerns about non-random subnational assignment of peacekeepers, the paper exploits variations in the presence of previous infrastructures and information on the total supply of troops to African countries from each troop-contributing country. The paper finds that UN peacekeeping affects both the magnitude and the quality of return. Displaced people are more likely to return home if peacekeepers are deployed in their county of destination. At the same time, the local presence of peacekeepers mitigates host communities' negative perception of IDPs; they also enable the delivery of support to communities that seem to improve attitudes toward returnees and IDPs.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022-06
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| Subjects: | INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE, RETURNEES, UN PEACEKEEPING EFFECTIVENESS, POST-CONFLICT RETURN, PERCEPTIONS OF RETURNEES, SOCIAL COHESION, SUPPORT TO RETURNEES, POST-CONFLICT REPATRIATION, DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY GOALS, SAFE RETURN OF REFUGEES, |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099233206232221153/IDU0d33c239802be9041020bdcc0e8f886101f22 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37598 |
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| Summary: | Can the international community
enable conditions for voluntary, safe and sustainable return
of displaced people As conflict is key in the decision to
leave and to return, this paper investigates whether the
deployment of UN peacekeeping operations can reduce the
insecurities driving displacement and delaying return. It
explores the case of South Sudan, which hosts the second
largest UN peace operation in the world. It combines
information on peacekeepers' subnational deployment
with data on individuals' intention to move and host
communities' perceptions of returnees and internally
displaced people (IDPs) using two surveys, one carried out
between 2015 and 2017 and one in 2018. To mitigate concerns
about non-random subnational assignment of peacekeepers, the
paper exploits variations in the presence of previous
infrastructures and information on the total supply of
troops to African countries from each troop-contributing
country. The paper finds that UN peacekeeping affects both
the magnitude and the quality of return. Displaced people
are more likely to return home if peacekeepers are deployed
in their county of destination. At the same time, the local
presence of peacekeepers mitigates host communities'
negative perception of IDPs; they also enable the delivery
of support to communities that seem to improve attitudes
toward returnees and IDPs. |
|---|