Humanitarian Geographies of Migrant Return
Assisted Voluntary Return and the European Migration “Crisis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7635000 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Austin Crane (0009-0006-4981-8614, University of South Carolina, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 115 |
| Issue | 9 |
| Pages | 1-17 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annals of the American Association of Geographers (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2469-4452 • E-ISSN: 2469-4460 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/24694452.2025.2526508 |
| OpenAlex | W4413057239 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 54 |
This article addresses an important convergence amidst recurring crises surrounding migration: the intertwined spaces and politics of humanitarianism and migrant return. Bridging work by geographers on humanitarianism and deportation, this article advances a theoretical framework of humanitarian geographies of migrant return. Empirically, it analyzes the political role that assisted voluntary return (AVR) policies played in responding to Europe’s constructed migration “crisis,” beginning in 2015. Across Europe, AVR is promoted as a humanitarian alternative to forced removal in that it allows for undocumented migrants and appeals-rights-exhausted asylum seekers to voluntarily return to their country of origin with counseling, travel booking, and financial assistance. AVR is therefore framed and implemented as a humanitarian policy of migration management—rationalized as a voluntary, dignified, and humane alternative to deportation. This article draws on interviews with AVR practitioners at a range of organizations across Europe (nongovernmental organizations, the International Organization for Migration, and state agencies) to investigate this paradoxical, yet influential policy. Through unpacking the discursive justification and practical implementation of AVR in this moment of political crisis, this article argues that humanitarian logics, institutions, and practices are integral to Europe’s ongoing management of migration and asylum through migrant return
Demographic economics · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Humanitarian crisis · Migrant workers · Political science · Refugee · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration
Humanitarian Reason
Casualties of Care
Managing The Undesirables
No Refuge
International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Aftermath
Body Counts
The Death of Asylum
Making Refuge
The International Organization for Migration
Impossible Subjects
The Deportation Regime
The Borders of "Europe"
Violent Borders
Brexit, race and migration
The politics of development and humanitarianism in EU externalization
Narrating Europe's Migration and Refugee ‘Crisis’
Policing the (migrant) crisis
At the Crossroads between Care and Control
Migration Control as Communication? Voluntary Returns, Information Campaigns and the Justification of Contested Migration/Border Governance
Geographies of migration II
Deportability, humanitarianism and development
The Humanitarian War Against Migrant Smugglers at Sea
Rethinking Security
The Care/Security Nexus of the Humanitarian Border
Humanitarianism as liberal diagnostic
Chaos and Crisis
Unintended Return
Stopping boats, saving lives, securing subjects
Interventions on Europe's political futures
Offshoring Refugees
From humanitarian exceptionalism to contingent care
Humanitarianism as conflicted care
Deportation as a neo-colonial act
More than mere survival
The Geopolitics of Return Migration in the International System
Re-producing the Humanitarian Border
Migration management for the benefit of whom? Interrogating the work of the International Organization for Migration
Repoliticization Through Search and Rescue? Humanitarian NGOs and Migration Management in the Central Mediterranean
Hotspots and the geographies of humanitarianism
The International Organization for Migration and the International Government of Borders
Geographies of humanitarian violence
Bordering Borderscapes
Deportation and the Micropolitics of Exclusion
Introduction to Displacements
No place like home? The International Organization for Migration and the new political imaginary of deportation
Between humanitarian assistance and migration management
Performing freedom in the Dutch deportation regime
Impossible Subjects
Doctors, Borders, and Life in Crisis
How voluntary are voluntary returns
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |