Amidst an increasing popularity of Assisted Return (AR) programmes amongst European states, on the one hand, and criticism pertaining to their voluntary and humanitarian nature, on the other hand, this paper maps AR programmes across Europe. It contains a first comprehensive overview of 45 ongoing AR programmes across 27 countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) and outlines their commonalities and specificities along five categories: (1) clarity and reliability of available information, (2) involved actors, (3) targeting, (4) offered support and (5) accountability and empirical knowledge production. The mapping finds relevant differences in programme design according to the centralization and distribution of responsibilities between state actors, IOM and NGOs. Similarly, programmes vary according to their target groups ranging from highly specific (e.g. for victims of trafficking) to those addressing virtually all non‐EU citizens. Another marked distinction concerns the labelling as either assisted return or return & reintegration programme, which may be in contrast to the amount, scope and timing of the offered support. The findings and identified knowledge gaps are discussed in relation to relevant literature to contextualize our understanding of the proliferation of AR activities and formulate recommendations for future research.

中文翻译：

---

欧洲各地的协助遣返计划 – 绘制日益模糊的地图


一方面，在欧洲国家中辅助返回 （AR） 计划越来越受欢迎，另一方面，与其自愿和人道主义性质有关的批评，本文绘制了整个欧洲的 AR 计划。它首次全面概述了欧洲经济区 （EEA） 27 个国家/地区的 45 个正在进行的 AR 计划，并概述了它们在五个方面的共同点和特点：（1） 可用信息的清晰度和可靠性，（2） 参与参与者，（3） 目标定位，（4） 提供支持和 （5） 问责制和实证知识生产。根据国家行为体、国际移民组织和非政府组织之间的责任集中和分配，该映射发现了项目设计中的相关差异。同样，项目根据其目标群体而有所不同，从高度具体（例如针对人口贩运受害者）到几乎针对所有非欧盟公民的项目。另一个显著的区别是被标记为协助返回或返回和重新融入计划，这可能与所提供支持的数量、范围和时间形成对比。结合相关文献讨论了研究结果和确定的知识差距，以将我们对 AR 活动扩散的理解置于背景中，并为未来的研究提出建议。