Study on Rural Migration in Kosovo

The study deals with the causes and effects of international migration from rural areas in Kosovo. A particular focus is placed on the 2014/2015 migration wave previously discussed in the IAMO Policy Brief 24. The new study looks at returned migrants who left with this wave and the challenges their reintegration poses for Kosovo. In 2015 and 2016, more than 20,000 migrants returned to Kosovo, the majority of whom had seen their requests for asylum in Western Europe declined. Based on the results of an empirical survey of around 180 returned migrants, the report compiled by Judith Möllers, Diana Traikova, Thomas Herzfeld and Egzon Bajrami places particular emphasis on the uncertain economic situation the migrants left behind and face again in their return. Reintegration is impeded above all by the precarious state of the labour market. This is compounded by a psychological burden that often arises from the sometimes traumatic experience of migration and forced return. Support measures for reintegration are to a large extent unknown and unused by those who need them most. This can lead to a vicious cycle of migration composed of forced return, problems of reintegrating, and a further attempt at migration. Indeed, the results of the study show that many returnees do not intend to remain in Kosovo.

The results of the project were presented on 29 May 2017 in Prishtina, Kosovo, to representatives from the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kosovo.

To our regret, the full study report is currently not released for publication by our contracting authority (GIZ).

• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development (Republic of Kosovo)

• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)