Engaging Return Migrants in Information Campaigns in Iraq: Challenges, Reintegration, and Prospects

Despite the relative stabilisation of the country after the defeat of ISIS in 2017, social and political insecurity, unemployment, lack of hope in the future, and individual longing for personal freedom continue to push young people to migrate out of Iraq, often through irregular means. For this reason, the past years have seen an increased interest in migration information campaigns to raise awareness on the risks of irregular migration and promote safe and regular migration channels. Recent campaigns have employed diaspora members and returnees as key figures to convey the desired message, driven by the idea that potential migrants tend to trust information coming from closer and more trusted sources, especially with past experiences of migration.

While recognising the methodological limitations of our research (limited sample, different spatial and temporal experiences, confined geographical scope, methodological biases), it is nonetheless possible to determine some common characteristics of the returnees’ migration and post-return reintegration experiences and analyse them in light of existing literature to inform the development of migration information campaigns.