On Thursday 17 October, representatives of migrants’ rights and migration think tanks criticised the EU’s plans to work on ‘innovative solutions’ to reduce arrivals, such as return centres in third countries.
“We are dismayed by the growing support of many Member States, and even the Commission, for the idea of sending people to centres outside the EU for subsequent deportation. Not only is this a logistical and financial nonsense, it is also a cruel system that breaches international and European law and exposes people to the risk of abuse”, comments the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM).
“The agreement between Italy and Albania, which is now being praised by many EU countries, is an inhumane, absurd and costly system that violates international human rights obligations”.
Amnesty International denounced as well the Commission’s “shameful U-turn” on these centres, which are “incompatible with European and international law”.
The Migration Policy Group also has reservations about “building comprehensive partnerships with third countries, including return agreements as the backbone of EU externalisation policy”.
While they “may work in the short term, they have unintentionally empowered third countries in relation to the EU, leading to the weaponisation of migration. (...) The policy of externalisation itself creates fertile ground for it, reducing the effectiveness of the policy in the long run.
Link to the Migration Policy Group’s position: https://aeur.eu/f/dyb (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)