Is resettlement in a Western country the most viable solution for Protracted Refugee Situations

This paper will focus on longstanding Protracted Refugee Situations (PRS) as opposed to ‘regular’ refugee situations, and analyse available solutions to them. It will consider the drawbacks of all three ‘durable solutions’ listed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): voluntary repatriation, local integration and third country resettlement. The central arguments of the paper are that repatriation and local integration are rarely available for refugees in PRS, and that resettlement can be a successful solution. With the assistance of research from interviews conducted with formerly resettled refugees and resettlement workers, it will use an example of resettled Bhutanese refugees closely to assess resettlement in practice. It will conclude that resettlement is the most viable solution for PRS, but should not be pursued alone to the neglect of other solutions.