A group of European Union member states is exploring the possibility of sending rejected asylum seekers to Rwanda and Uzbekistan, three European diplomats confirmed in remarks to Politico, as the EU makes its first collective attempt to delegate part of its migration management to third countries — after years of legal obstacles and political disputes.
The new Returns Regulation, approved by the European Parliament last week, stipulates that member states may establish “return hubs” in third countries outside the EU for individuals whose asylum applications have been rejected and who have no legal right to remain, provided those countries uphold human rights and international law.
As Politico notes, Denmark, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece have been at the forefront of efforts to shift the processing of rejected asylum claims outside the EU. At the same time, more than half of all member states are reported to have recently called for the rapid establishment of such centers.
This came after a series of controversial attempts by individual European governments — focused, however, on asylum seekers or newly arrived migrants, not on migrants with a final return order who cannot be or have not yet been returned to their country of origin.
Britain’s plans involving Rwanda were abandoned last year after years of legal and political battles, while Italy’s migrant processing centers in Albania have repeatedly been challenged in court. Supporters of the new initiative argue that the EU’s updated rules can succeed where previous efforts failed, as they provide a clear legal framework for facilities operating outside European territory.
