Calls to recognize a right of return are a recurring feature of refugee crises. Particularly when such crises become long-term, advocates of displaced people insist that they be allowed to return to their country of origin. I argue that this right is best understood as the right of refugees to return, not to a prior territory, but to a prior political status. This status is one that sees not just any state, but a refugee's state of origin, take responsibility for safeguarding their welfare. This entitlement I characterize as an institutional right: a right that presupposes, and is a necessary feature of, a particular institution. The institution of which the right of return is an indispensable part is the international political system that sees authority exercised by sovereign states. The institutional argument for a right of refugee return presupposes two basic factual claims about states: they play a central role in safeguarding rights and they pursue exclusionary policies of border control. Importantly, the institutional view presupposes only that states do perform both functions, not that they are justified in doing so. On a purely normative level, the institutional account assumes little more than the moral equality of human beings.

中文翻译：

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难民返回的制度性权利

呼吁承认返回权是难民危机的一个反复出现的特征。特别是当这种危机成为长期危机时，流离失所者的倡导者坚持要求他们被允许返回原籍国。我认为，这一权利最好理解为难民返回的权利，而不是返回先前的领土，而是返回先前的政治地位。这种身份不仅看到任何国家，而且看到难民的原籍国，负责保障他们的福利。我将这种权利描述为一种制度性权利：一种以特定制度为前提的权利，并且是特定制度的必要特征。回归权不可或缺的制度是主权国家行使权力的国际政治体系。支持难民返回权的制度论点预设了关于国家的两个基本事实主张：它们在保障权利方面发挥核心作用，它们奉行排斥性的边境控制政策。重要的是，制度观点只假定国家确实履行了这两种职能，而不是它们这样做是正当的。在纯粹的规范层面上，制度解释只假设人类的道德平等。