Repurposing Frozen Assets to Assist the Forcibly Displaced — Research Paper

The World Refugee and Migration Council has published a research paper about repurposing frozen assets to assist refugees. 

Violent regimes are responsible for much of the forced migration in the world today. Those regimes are also often corrupt, stealing from their treasuries and placing the money offshore for the unlawful benefit of the rulers and their associates.

When the jurisdictions in which the purloined assets are placed become aware of the assets’ existence, they frequently “freeze” and, in some circumstances, seize them. 

As a result, such assets are often tied up for extended periods. Meanwhile, the countries that are hosting those who were forcibly displaced struggle to manage the cost of accommodating large numbers of refugees whose dislocation was often caused by the very regime that stole the money.

To achieve both greater accountability and a fairer allocation of responsibility, could the stolen money be used in such cases to assist the forcibly displaced? 

Read the research paper on the World Refugee and Migration Council’s website