Negotiating with the authorities and ensuring the upkeep of those back home can absorb large amounts of time, money and emotional energy. It also keeps refugees' minds riveted to the past and to trauma, instead of allowing them and their families to start thinking of the future and rebuilding their lives. Family reunification is often the most practical, as well as the most humane, solution for the refugee, for the rest of the family, and for the society which they join. A reunited family is in a better position to consider its options, including voluntary repatriation, than a family that is dispersed. The first, an advocacy role, is based on the premise that the diversity of family situations precludes any attempt to come up with rigid, all-embracing criteria.
Fraudulent claims have to be detected.
But valid claims should never have to go unheard and remain unattended to. Information-sharing would enable us to give credit where credit is due, to those countries that have a humanitarian approach to family reunion. The second line of approach is direct, practical assistance to refugees seeking reunion with their families. In fact, family reunion is the final stage of what is often a very long process. Before reunification can be envisaged, it may be necessary to trace the missing members of the refugee's family.