Under international human rights law and customary international humanitarian law, the "right of return" is defined as an individual, inalienable human right for refugees and displaced persons to return to their country or homes of origin, irrespective of how a conflict or displacement began. Mainstream legal frameworks do not legally condition individual refugee return on political culpability or the origins of a war. However, applying a moral, political, or punitive restriction to this right involves deep and conflicting legal and historical arguments.

Legal and Human Rights Perspectives

Individual vs. Collective Guilt: International jurisprudence (such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions) treats the right of return as an individual right belonging to persons, not a collective attribute of a state or political faction. Under this view, penalizing civilian populations by denying return based on the actions of political or military leaders violates the prohibition of collective punishment.

Separation of Jus ad Bellum and IHL: International humanitarian law explicitly maintains that the rules protecting civilians and displaced persons apply regardless of how a war started (jus ad bellum) or which party bears responsibility for initiating aggression.

Customary Norms: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) codifies the return of displaced persons as a standard norm applicable to all sides in a conflict to prevent permanent demographic engineering or forced exile