GAPS Project Multimedia Outputs
GAPs Project Introduction Videos
How can research on return migration help to bridge the gap between policy and lived experience? This final video summarises key insights and reflections from the GAPs research project (2023–2026) on return and reintegration. Click image or here to watch.
Welcome to the intro video for the Horizon Europe GAPs Return Migration research project (2023-2026). The GAPs project is a comprehensive study on the drivers of return policies and barriers/enablers in international cooperation on returns. It examines the disconnects between expectations of return policies and their actual outcomes by de-centering the dominant, one-sided understanding of “return policymaking” and exploring how to create return policies that are effective, fair, and dignified.Click image or here to watch.
GAPs Digital Story Series
Between Borders and Fears - GAPs Digital Story Series
Between Borders and Fears – A Digital Story of Afghan Lives in Istanbul. This powerful documentary follows the journey of Parviz and Feruza, an Afghan couple navigating legal limbo, economic precarity, and the constant fear of deportation in Turkey. Through a compelling mix of personal testimonies, animation, and on-the-ground footage, the film highlights the structural barriers migrants face when return becomes both an imposed and an impossible option. By capturing the lived realities of displaced families, Between Borders and Fears contributes to critical discussions on return migration policies, shedding light on how legal frameworks shape, constrain, and disrupt migrant lives.
Between Hope and Uncertainty - GAPs Digital Story Series
With Assad's fall in December 2024, over 6 million Syrian refugees face an impossible question: Is it time to go home? Through the stories of Amira and Ahmad - two Syrians living in Gaziantep, Türkiye - this digital storytelling video explores why the end of a regime doesn't mean the end of displacement. From lost documents to lost homes, their journeys reveal the complex reality behind the headlines.
From Displacement to Reunification - GAPs Digital Story Series
This video, produced as part of our digital storytelling series, shares the story of a migrant woman who, together with her children, navigated multiple layers of return and asylum policies while moving between Poland, Germany, and her country of origin. Her journey captures the deep insecurity generated by border procedures, the Dublin system, immigration detention in Poland, and forced return. Despite repeated displacement and moments of family separation, her story concludes with reunification in Germany, where the family now hopes to rebuild their lives in safety.
The Long Wait by Youssef Saleh - GAPs Digital Story Series
This video, produced by Youssef, tells a deeply personal story of return to Syria after more than a decade of displacement in Turkey. Beginning with the political turning point of December 2024, it traces the emotional, social, and material realities that shaped his decision to return—experiences of discrimination, precariousness, and marginalisation in exile, alongside the longing for belonging, dignity, and identity. Through scenes of post-war Syria marked by destruction, economic hardship, and everyday resilience, the video reflects on return not as a simple homecoming, but as a complex process of confronting loss, rebuilding life, and reclaiming one’s place in a collective history.
Stories of Return: Endless Returning - Endless Hope: From Afghanistan to Europe and back - GAPs Digital Story Series
Mohammad Nazar recounts his migration journey from Afghanistan to Germany in 2011, where he spent time in refugee camps and eventually found work and studied German, obtaining a humanitarian visa. He later returned to Afghanistan, hoping to bring his fiancée to Germany, but faced numerous obstacles, including the slow visa process and the deteriorating security and economic situation in Afghanistan. Despite surrendering his German visa, Mohammad Nazar expresses a strong desire to return to Germany with his family, finding it a place where he felt valued and secure, unlike his current circumstances in Afghanistan, marked by a lack of freedom and opportunity.
Stories of Return: Asmir - Back to Bosnia? Back to Berlin!
Asmir, an entrepreneur based in Berlin, recounts his journey from Bosnia to Germany 27 years ago, after fleeing the war in the former Yugoslavia. Today, Asmir has rebuilt his life in Berlin, even transforming a ruined historic cellar in the city into his own distillery. After decades of building a new home, he makes the deeply personal decision to return to Bosnia for the first time since his escape, confronting memories of loss, displacement, and the question of what “home” truly means after forced migration. with Asmir Hadzibeganovic produced by Migration Matters
Case Studies and Expert Insights
Rethinking Return Migration: Policies, Realities and Gaps
In this video, researchers from the GAPs project dive into the complexities of return migration, exploring the varied terminology and definitions commonly used across policy and public discussions in Europe. Learn how EU policies on return migration are implemented and discover the distinctions between voluntary returns and forced deportations. Our experts also discuss the critical role of cooperation agreements between the EU and countries of origin, which often impact the success of return orders. Despite the EU’s increased assistance programs designed to encourage voluntary returns, these agreements remain challenging. The video features street surveys from Berlin, capturing public perceptions in Germany and shedding light on diverse views around return migration.
Rethinking Return Migration: What’s at Stake with EU Return Policies?
In the second episode, GAPs researchers explore the legal and ethical frameworks shaping return migration processes within the EU. This video unpacks the criteria required for a return to be classified as "voluntary" and explains the key legal obligations EU member states hold toward refugees and migrants, including essential human rights protections. Yet, as the video highlights, these legal standards are often overlooked in practice. With a rising number of "pushbacks"—measures used by EU states like Greece and Italy to deny entry to migrants—our researchers question the lack of independent monitoring and the implications for human rights. We also delve into the principle of "non-refoulement" and its critical role in return migration policies, discussing issues such as detention conditions and migrants' access to legal representation in Europe.
Migrants' Agency: How Migrants Make Decisions about their Lives
In migration policy debates, migrants are often portrayed as victims—trapped by borders, constrained by laws, and left with little say over their futures. But a new digital story from the GAPs Project challenges this one-dimensional narrative. Migrants' Agency: How Migrants Make Decisions about Their Lives takes viewers into the everyday realities of migrants, refugees, and returnees, showing how they navigate difficult systems with resilience, creativity, and purpose. Drawing on field research across multiple countries, the video highlights how decisions around return are not simply dictated by policy but are actively negotiated by migrants themselves. Experts including Dr. Susan Beth Rottmann (Özyeğin University, Turkey), Dr. Ngozi Louis Uzomah (University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria), Minos Papakyriakopoulos (Voluntary Return and Reintegration Counsellor IOM, Greece), and Karina Belhaj (Association Migration Internationale (AMI), Morocco) offer grounded insights into how legal and structural barriers shape—but do not entirely determine—migrants’ choices. This compelling documentary calls for a shift in perspective: if return policies are to be truly effective, they must take seriously the voices and agency of those most affected.
Return and Reintegration: Case Studies from Afghanistan, Nigeria and Iraq
What does "going home" really mean for migrants who return to their countries of origin? Return and Reintegration: Case Studies from Afghanistan, Nigeria and Iraq offers a sobering look at the challenges returnees face long after the journey ends. Drawing on in-depth research by the GAPs Project, this video explores what reintegration looks like on the ground—from struggles to access education and employment to the social stigma many face in their own communities. Through case studies and expert insights from Dr. Hidayet Siddikoğlu (BILIM, Organisation for Research and Social Studies, Afghanistan), Dr. Ngozi Louis Uzomah (University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria), William Warda (Hammurabi Human Rights Organisation, Iraq), the documentary sheds light on the fragile and uneven pathways of return. Far from a simple process, reintegration emerges as a complex negotiation between individual resilience and the limits of local support systems. This digital story calls attention to the urgent need for policies that go beyond return logistics and invest in meaningful, long-term reintegration.
How international cooperation shapes EU return migration policy.
Return migration in Europe is often discussed in terms of numbers and obligations. This video looks beyond policy targets to explore whether return debates fully consider time, community ties, and the realities of people who have lived in European countries for years—building lives, contributing to local communities, and forming social connections. It also examines the gap between return commitments and how political and institutional realities differ in countries of origin and the EU, asking what kind of cooperation and support is needed for return policies to be realistic, fair, and sustainable. with GAPs researchers Prof. Tineke Strik, Member of the European Parliament, and Prof. Gerasimos Tsourapas, University of Birmingham. produced by Migration Matters
GAPs Final Conference Keynote Speeches
Keynote Session Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou (Toronto Metropolitan University) GAPs Conf. 22/01/2026
Keynote Speech entited "Complex Migration and Coerced Returns" - by Prof Triandafyllidou, Anna (Toronto Metropolitan University) at the GAPs Return Migration Conference. In her keynote lecture entitled "Complex Migration and Coerced Returns", Prof. Triandafyllidou explored how migration today is shaped by complex, non-linear trajectories, mixed motivations, and increasingly fluid temporal and spatial dynamics. Drawing on global examples, from long-standing settlement countries to emerging long-term mobility regimes, she offered a powerful analytical framework for understanding migration complexity and its implications for multi-level and multi-scalar governance, including the governance of coerced returns in the Mediterranean and beyond.
Keynote Speech by Prof. Linda Adhiambo Oucho at GAPs Conference 23/01/2026
East, West, is Home Truly Best? Navigating Identity, Aspiration and Reintegration of Return Migrants SPEAKER: PROF. LINDA ADHIAMBO OUCHO AFRICAN MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY CENTRE (AMADPOC), KENYA MIGRATION POLICY CENTRE, EUI, ITALY This presentation examines the complexities of return migration, where desires for home coexist with fears of reintegration, and return is rarely linear or final. It explores how contemporary mobility reshapes meanings of home and belonging, and considers how return governance can better reflect the fluid and negotiated nature of migrants' lived realities. Prof. Linda Adhiambo Oucho is Executive Director of the African Migration and Development Policy Centre (AMADPOC) in Nairobi and part-time professor at the European University Institute's Migration Policy Centre in Florence.
A short video of the project final conference
GAPs Project Final Conference, “Navigating Return Migration: What Next? Diplomacy, Infrastructures, and Pathways Beyond”.
Date: January 22-23, 2026
Location: Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
Organized by: Horizon Europe GAPs project - https://www.returnmigration.eu/
Keynote speakers: Shahram Khosravi (Stockholm University), Linda Oucho (African Migration and Development Policy Centre), Anna Triandafyllidou (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Voices of GAPs (Video Series)
Returns: Gaps between Policies and Practice Roundtable Discussion in the European Parliament
On September 24, 2024, the European Parliament hosted a high-level roundtable that addressed the widening gap between return migration policies and their practical implementation. The event, titled “Returns: Gaps Between Policies and Practice,” organized by the EU-funded GAPs project, fostered crucial debates on the future of return migration in Europe.
Participants from academia and policy sectors, including European Parliament member Tineke Strik and GAPs coordinator Zeynep Sahin-Mencütek, presented compelling evidence on how the EU's return policies remain fragmented and fail to deliver the anticipated results. With insightful contributions from GAPs researchers Rebecca Thorburn Stern (Uppsala University), Ela Gökalp-Aras (Swedish Research Institute, Istanbul), and Terry Martin (Science-Policy Interface Agency), the discussions underscored the significant inconsistencies in return processes and practices.
GAPs Data Repository Presentation
GAPs Data Repository offers an overview of available qualitative and quantitative data on national return regimes. It is launched in 2024 as an output of the Horizon Europe project ‘GAPS: De-centring the Study of Migrant Returns and Readmission Policies in Europe and Beyond’ (101094341).
Designed to be open access and user-friendly, the Data Repository collects all relevant quantitative, qualitative, and visual data into five main categories, ensuring a unified and organized presentation for those interested in return related data:
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