Prolonged Exile in Relative Isolation : Long-term Consequences of Contrasting Refugee Policies in Tanzania

Sammanfattning: The question at issue in this work has been stimulated by the past decade's shifts in the field of refugee-hosting. An important element of these changes is the consideration of repatriation as the only durable solution. In many African refugee-receiving states this shift has meant the abandonment of integrative policies in favor of temporary, repatriation-oriented strategies. This development has, however, revealed itself to at odds with nature of many exile situations in Africa, which tend to be prolonged affairs. Persistent political unrest in many African states means that a large number of refugeesare consigned to a long stay in the country of exile.This work examines the problem of long-term exile as it relates to the application of two hosting policies (Organized rural settlement and Assisted temporary camp) In Tanzania representing contrasting views on the problem of refugees. The research takes a standpoint in the current refugee political climate of changed displacement patterns and growing restrictionism and seeks to describe and analyze existing conventional perspectives and policies on the problem of refugees. With this as a point of departure, the study examines empirically the implementation and long-term effects of the hosting policies concerned. The central issue here is the meeting between two premises, duration of exile and applied hosting policy. Specifically, the study looks into: (i) material quality of life and services; (ii) economic conditions; (iii) political and legal conditions; (iv) the provision of education; and, of greatest concern in this study, (v) refugees' long-term adjustment: their economic, political and social integration into the host society and (vi) future perspectives. In the light of the tendency of more extended refugee situations the study argues that the current application of hosting policies in Tanzania does not contain a tuning to the consequences of a prolonged hosting undertaking, but calls for more dynamic and long-term perspectives.