Repatriation policy

REPATRIATION POLICY – organized activity of state organs (central and local government) as well as non-governmental organizations, including arrivals and stays of repatriates; it is also an action aimed at the privileged procedure of acquiring citizenship. R.p. is implemented on the basis of regulations specifying the rules for the arrival and stay of repatriates on the territory of a given country. R.p is part of the → immigration policy. It is the result of territorial changes (e.g. decolonization, change of borders), political (evacuation from persecution) or economic (labor market demand). Objectives focus on: 1. enabling compatriots to return to their homeland; 2. obtaining the desired population structure in a given administrative unit. Currently in the European Union it is implemented by individual countries, but in the case of Poland, due to demographic changes among foreign compatriots, it is losing importance due to the milder form of affiliation with the host country, without gaining citizenship (e.g. Polish Card). R.p. implemented by local governments includes activities within the competences of the authorities of individual local government units (mainly municipalities) aimed at limiting or encouraging repatriates to settle and stay on their territory. It includes active support in seeking employment, enabling education at various levels, ensuring security, housing policy, satisfying material needs and health protection. R.p. implemented by non-governmental organizations mainly consists of activities directed at the host society and repatriates. Information campaigns on repatriates are addressed to the host society, while actions are being carried out towards repatriates to support adaptation and integration processes in the host country. In Poland and other EU Member States r.p. is not subject to axiological dispute. There is a clear difference in the r.p. implemented in the western and eastern parts of the EU. R.p. in the western part of the EU (e.g. France, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain) was carried out mainly in the post-war period of decolonization, causing mass departures of the European population. In the eastern part of the EU (e.g. Poland, Hungary, Romania) r.p. is the result of post-war territorial changes (mass resettlements in the post-war period) and differences in the standard of living between countries in the eastern part of the European continent (limited resettlements after 1989). [P. Hut]

Literature: P. Hut, Warunki życia i proces adaptacji repatriantów w Polsce w latach 1992–2000, [Living conditions and the process of adaptation of repatriates in Poland in the years 1992–2000], Warsaw 2002 ■ P. Hut, Polska wobec Polaków w przestrzeni poradzieckiej. Od solidaryzmu etnicznego do obowiązku administracyjnego [Poland towards Poles in the post-Soviet space. From ethnic solidarity to administrative duty], Warsaw 2014 ■ P. Hut, Migracja i pojęcia pokrewne [w:] W kręgu pojęć i zagadnień współczesnej polityki społecznej [Migration and related concepts [in:] Concepts and issues of contemporary social policy], edited by B. Rysz-Kowalczyk, B. Szatur-Jaworska, Warsaw 2016.