Objective 21: Cooperate in Facilitating Safe and Dignified Return and Readmission, as well as Sustainable Reintegration

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Focusing on a contentious aspect of migration governance, this chapter explores Objective 21 of the GCM, which addresses return, readmission, and reintegration. It shows how negotiations reflected deep divides between the Global North—particularly the EU, prioritizing effective return policies—and the Global South, advocating for regularization alternatives. The final text maintains the Global North’s focus on ‘safe and dignified return’ without fundamentally shifting the postcolonial order of mobility restrictions. The chapter analyses the incremental inclusion and removal of safeguards during the Objective’s drafting, such as the fluctuating reference to the principle of non-refoulement, the contested prioritization of voluntary over forced return, and evolving commitments regarding children. It highlights how readmission obligations were consolidated to reflect EU priorities and argues that Objective 21 reflects the asymmetric power dynamics of migration governance: while upholding due process and human rights commitments in theory, it operationalizes a framework that reinforces restrictive migration control and maintains systemic inequities.</jats:p>