DRC Danish Refugee Council has provided counselling to rejected asylum seekers for many years. Our priority is to ensure that each person's dignity is respected throughout the return process. We aim to empower individuals to make informed decisions about their future, whether that means exploring pathways for legal stay or working towards sustainable reintegration.
Dignified return requires time, counselling, involvement and meaningful reintegration support
Access to a fair and efficient asylum procedure is a precondition for dignified return. Furthermore, a dignified return process should include access to impartial and independent counselling on both legal matters of the case and return. The process should include sufficient time, involvement, as well as adequate and dignified reception conditions to safeguard the mental and physical health of the individual. Additionally, the process should include access to qualified reintegration support.
Impartial return counselling aims to empower the individual asylum seeker and supports them in the process of making informed decisions
DRC offers return counselling to rejected asylum seekers and has a team of experienced counsellors, skilled in social work and good, empathic communication. This allows them to engage in meaningful counselling with rejected asylum seekers about their situation. We have many years of experience providing counselling to exactly this target group.
The return counselling is impartial and only provided with a humanitarian aim to support and contribute to clarification among asylum seekers in a return position. DRC works rights-based and with a purpose to ensure that asylum seekers have access to thorough information about their situation and about the different choices and possibilities available to them. Our aim is to support them in making informed decisions about their future.
The counselling does not necessarily focus on return. Instead, the counselling takes a holistic approach and is based on the understanding that the asylum seeker is an expert in his or her life. The main purpose is to support informed decisions and inspire the individual’s agency.
DRC counsellors apply DRC’s return counselling methodology which is an approach that has been developed over several years to ensure a qualified and professional approach that addresses the complexity of return counselling. It is based on a deep professional understanding of a vulnerable and complex target group with different resources and challenges as well as a fundamental recognition of the difficult situations many asylum seekers face.
Many rejected asylum seekers need time to adjust to their new situation. Some may feel frustrated, be sad, lack capability to act, or feel completely detached from their own asylum case. The starting point for counselling is always the asylum seekers’ own perspectives and thoughts about their future. Counselling is thus guided by the topics that the asylum seeker brings to the table and will often involve conversations about the legal process and rejection, worries, as well as possible strategies and plans for the future.
DRC’s return counsellors offer more than just accurate information. DRC wants to create a counselling space that is safe and allows for qualified conversations, where all topics are welcomed, and where there are always two experts present: the counsellor with the solid knowledge about the asylum system, and the asylum seeker, who is an expert in his or her own life. The counselling is thus always person-centered, adjusted to the individual, and based on the principles of recognition and empowerment.
Read about DRC’s return counselling methodology
DRC Return Counselling Methodology Brief
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DRC’s recommendations for a good and dignified return process
Based on DRC’s experience with counselling of rejected asylum seekers, we have identified the following best practices which can support a good and dignified return process:
Rejected asylum seekers should have access to impartial and non-directive return counselling
Counselling about return is best done in a safe atmosphere by well-trained non-governmental counsellors. Return counselling is not just information-giving and guidance about the actual return procedure. Good counselling aims to enable the rejected asylum seekers to engage in conversations with the return counsellors where worries and questions can be shared freely. Often this process is necessary before the rejected asylum seekers may be open to discuss a potential return. Return counsellors must thus be impartial in their counselling, have extensive knowledge of the asylum procedure and practices, and be skilled at building trust and engage in empathetic communication with people in vulnerable situations.
Rejected asylum seekers must be offered sufficient time to be able to relate to their (new) situation in a return procedure and consider their choices
Rejected asylum seekers must be offered sufficient time to be able to relate to their (new) situation in a return procedure and consider their choices. Many may have held onto to the hope of building a new life for a long time, making it a complex process to adjust and make informed decisions about their future. Speedy procedures and threats of sanctions rarely provide clarity or lead to sustainable solutions. Instead, it often takes time to build trust in the process, make informed decisions, and prepare for the future. Time is thus often crucial to navigate the return process with dignity.
Rejected asylum seekers should be offered access to legal counselling
Rejected asylum seekers should have access to high quality legal counselling throughout the asylum procedure and after a final rejection. If rejected asylum seekers wish to explore the possibilities to complain about the decision, ask for a review of the case or seek other pathways for legal stay, they should have access to impartial legal counselling to address these questions. It may be difficult for rejected asylum seekers to understand and accept the new situation after a rejection to the asylum claim. Some rejected asylum seekers may feel frustrated, confused and uncertain about their future, and for some it can be challenging to come to terms with the legal process, they have been trough. Access to impartial legal counselling can be an important step towards making informed decisions about the future.
Rejected asylum seekers must be offered dignified and adequate reception conditions and be treated with respect
The use of sanctions and detention to “motivate” return must be avoided, as it undermines human dignity. It is also ineffective as a motivational tool. Instead, rejected asylum seekers should be offered dignified and adequate reception conditions to safeguard their mental and physical health. Additionally, they should receive adequate support to enhance empowerment and maintain their skills and sense of agency.
Rejected asylum seekers should be offered meaningful and qualified reintegration support
Access to meaningful and sufficient support to ensure sustainable reintegration should be a part of the return process and available for all persons who return. As a reintegration process begins prior to departure, it is important to have access to pre-departure counseling, receive guidance on reintegration activities, and have opportunities for skill development. Sustainable reintegration involves more than economic self-sufficiency; it is shaped by returnees' experiences throughout the entire migration cycle and influenced by both individual, social, and contextual factors. Support should thus be holistic, tailored to individual needs, addressing economic, social, and psychosocial elements.
Read more about DRC’s policy brief on return counselling
DRC policy brief on return counselling
1 version(s)
Extract of DRC’s Global Policy on Return
DRC engages in return processes both in Denmark and globally. The following eight positions outline the overall framework for DRC’s engagement in return processes globally – applicable in all return situations including asylum seekers, refugees and IDPs:
#1: All forcibly displaced persons have a right to be protected against refoulement, to receive protection and assistance in accordance with international human rights law4 and should not be forced or pressured through i.e. untenable conditions in the host country to return to the area of origin under unsafe circumstances and conditions non-conducive for reintegration.
#2: DRC respects the right of States to return individuals without legal residence provided the decision to deny asylum or to withdraw refugee status has been made with due regard to national and international human rights standards. However, DRC finds that refugees should not be subject to constant or regular reviews of their refugee status. The right to family unity should be respected and minors should never be returned in contravention of the best interest of the child, and the possibility to grant a humanitarian residence permit or similar to vulnerable groups for health-related or other humanitarian reasons should be promoted.
#3: Inclusion and dignity of all concerned individuals must be upheld in the return process. Every return process must be carried out in a humane and dignified manner, where people concerned are given a chance to prepare and influence the return process.
#4: The right to return “all the way home” must be guaranteed. The return of all concerned individuals must be based on their right to return “all the way home” if they so wish. If the returnee wishes to be housed and reintegrated in other areas of the country of origin, this must be respected and supported on equal terms as the right to return home.
#5: Forced return, even if legally sanctioned, should be avoided as it often comes with measures that undermine human dignity, incl. detention and the use of force.
#6: Return must not be viewed as the mere physical movement of people back to their area of origin but should always be accompanied by post-return monitoring and meaningful reintegration support.
#7: Refugees and IDPs must be supported in building capacities and develop skills while in exile to enable dignified life and improve the chances for sustainable return.
#8: Return should not be seen or promoted in isolation. In a protracted crisis, all three durable solutions should be pursued simultaneously and a host-government’s potential preference for return should never dilute DRC’s programming and advocacy to promote local solutions and resettlement.
