Practices by Stakeholder 6

The practices identified for international organizations are also relevant to civil society.

Immediate assistance upon return

Civil society, especially those operating within communities of origin, may be first responders in supporting returned migrants. The actions they can take include:

• Establishing reception centers for returned migrants, where migrants can stay for a short period of time upon return, investigate options, and develop a plan for reintegration;
• Offering legal and other services to migrants to recover outstanding wages, social contributions, and other assets and property left behind in host States, or to obtain redress for other violations.
• Advocating on migrants’ behalf with local authorities to obtain local or national identity documents to access social services, health care, or education;
• Supporting processes of family tracing and reunification;
• Linking migrants to programs for economic support, cash assistance, and livelihood as well as employment agencies;
• Providing information on legal channels for remigration to returnees interested in this option.

Psychosocial support programs for the reintegration of vulnerable migrants

Civil society can assess and address the needs of particularly vulnerable returned migrants and implement programs that can support their reintegration process. The types of programs they can implement include:

• Assessments, research, and migrant profiling to understand and analyze the reintegration needs of returned migrants, and among them, of particularly vulnerable groups, such as child migrants, youth, and victims of violence and trafficking;
• Psychosocial support and counseling to facilitate reintegration of migrants who do not have local connections, cultural familiarity, or other networks or resources to rely on;
• Social and economic reintegration interventions, especially for youth without ties to communities of origin;
• Health and psychosocial assistance for victims of trafficking, of gender-based violence, and other types of exploitation and trauma;
• Psychosocial support for migrant children facing language and cultural barriers within communities of origin.

Recovery support for migrants remaining in host State

Local civil society actors can ensure migrants who remain in the host State throughout the crisis get the assistance they need to recover. Activities to support migrants include:

• Providing psychosocial support and counseling;
• Supporting redress mechanisms to recover property or assets, especially where migrants have no legal standing;
• Monitoring discrimination and anti-immigrant and xenophobic conditions.