The COVID-19 crisis and the measures taken by EU and OECD countries to stop its spread are impacting migration directly and indirectly. One of the areas of migration that has been severely affected by COVID-19 measures has been return.
Health and safety conditions in pre-return detention centres have had to be adapted to ensure the protection of detainees during the pandemic, and migrants who have no legal basis to remain have only been able to return to their country of origin if travel is permitted and flights are available.
This joint EMN – OECD Inform reports on voluntary and forced return procedures and policy responses in EU and OECD Member States between March and September 2020. It is based on information collected by the EMN Return Expert Group (REG) practitioners through the EMN Ad-Hoc Query (AHQ) on responses to COVID-19 in the return procedures area. Information provided by OECD was collected via the OECD Working Party on Migration, the OECD Expert Group on Migration, and for the OECD policy brief on managing international migration under COVID-19 in OECD countries.
French translation of the Inform was kindly provided by EMN France.