In 2007 Sweden offered $7,150 to families who agreed to return to Afghanistan. A year later the Ghanaian government, working with the UN, gave refugees $100 to return to Liberia. Soon after, Denmark began offering $18,700 to anyone returning to Iraq, Iran, and Somalia. In 2010 the British National Party promised, if elected, to give $78,000 to migrants or refugees who agreed to leave the country. The BNP was never elected, but in 2011 the UK government handed over $3,500 in cash to families agreeing to return to Zimbabwe. In 2013 the Israeli government followed suit, providing $3,500 to thousands of asylum seekers who agreed to repatriate. Those who refused were provided a slightly different offer: $3,500 to accept a one-way ticket to Uganda, Rwanda, or Ethiopia, where they would be unable to obtain any legal status. Three years later Germany began paying $7,000 to Afghan nationals returning home, and Australia promised $20,000 to Rohingya returning to Myanmar.

In all of these cases, and many more, a large proportion of those returning were owed asylum and protection from deportation. Given that they were owed asylum, it is not clear if paying them to leave was morally permissible. Perhaps it was, because only forcing refugees to leave is wrong, but perhaps it was not, given the dangers of returning.

Payments for repatriation are not new, but there are few studies describing such payments, nor analysis as to whether they are ethical. This chapter both describes payments, and considers whether they ought to be given.

Section 5.1 describes “Motivation Payments,” when governments hope to motivate refugees to unsafely leave the country. I argue that such payments are only morally permissible if refugees can again access the host country after leaving. In Section 5.2 I address “Coercion Payments.” These occur when refugees are coerced to return, because they are forced to endure insecurity, detention, or enclosed camps if they remain. Humanitarian organizations, eager to help, provide money to refugees who decide to return. Such was the case in the 2000s, when the UN provided $400 to thousands of refugees repatriating from Kenya to Somalia and to hundreds of thousands of refugees repatriating from Pakistan to Afghanistan.