Return Migration to Armenia: Issues of reintegration

Abstract

This report sets out to describe the current statistical and institutional situation of return migration to and reintegration in Armenia. The author elaborates this situation from the Armenian perspective by -- explaining available statistical data on return migration, -- illustrating the priorities of the Armenian government and of international and national nongovernmental organizations and -- examining the extent to which the return issue is taken into consideration in the framework of their actions. In Armenia, there is no uniform and homogeneous definition of the term “return migrant”. Depending on the source, the term is used differently. Therefore, in this report the term “return migrant” is defined according to the respective sources. In most Armenian policy papers and legal acts “return migrants” are not defined.1 The first part of the report proposes a statistical overview of return migration to Armenia. The second part describes the main initiatives and programmes that have been implemented so far on the reintegration of return migrants.