The final negotiations on the EU's new migration pact have now begun. If the proposal for “return hubs” becomes a reality, migrants could be deprived of their liberty och sent to migration centers in countries outside the EU awaiting deportation. Critics warn that the rule of law and human rights are at risk of being disregarded.
On 26 March, the European Parliament voted to proceed with negotiations on return regulationThe bill will make it easier to carry out deportations and open up the establishment of so-called “return hubs” outside the EU.
Today have asylum seekers who have been rejected generally the right to stay in the EU for waiting for the deportation to be carried out. If the proposal becomes reality, those who have received a deportation order, but for various reasons cannot return to their home countries, could instead be sent to facilities outside the EU's borders, reports The Guardian.
The proposal – which was adopted with 389 votes in favor, 206 against and 32 abstentions - means that final negotiations with the EU member states can now begin with the aim of agreeing on the final law. Among the Swedish EU parliamentarians, the Sweden Democrats, the Moderates and the Christian Democrats voted in favour of the deal, while the Green Party and the Left Party voted against. The Centre Party, the Liberals and the Social Democrats abstained.
Charlie Weimers, one of the Sweden Democrats' EU parliamentarians who was involved in negotiating the proposal, describes the outcome as an important breakthrough in a statement on European Conservatives and Reformists Party Group website.
– The era of deportations has begun, he says, and continues:
– A functioning migration system must ensure that those who lack the legal right to stay actually return.
But how return hubs will work in practice is still unclear. Human rights organization International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns that the tightening of EU migration policy could have serious consequences for people on the run.
In a separate statement, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O'Flaherty, fears that the hubs could constitute "black holes"for human rights unless they are prompted by careful risk assessments."
In line with this, the IRC points to the risk of widespread human rights violations. The organization warns that the hubs will detain and deport people without adequate due process guarantees, access to legal advice, or proper assessments of their situation.
Overall, the IRC assesses that the hubs, without robust safeguards, effectively create “de facto prisons” – where the rule of law is undermined and the risk of human rights violations increases. These risks are exacerbated, according to the IRC, by uncertainties about which country is legally responsible for the people held in detention, and by challenges for the EU to maintain oversight and control if people are sent to countries outside the Union.
The IRC points out that although children and other vulnerable groups are in theory exempt from being sent to the hubs, it is difficult to see how in practice they would be quickly identified and protected – and that there is a great risk that they will fall through the cracks.
The vote represents a “historic setback for refugee rights,” the organization said in a statement to The Guardian:
“This will strip people of their rights and protections solely on the basis of their migration status in Europe and pave the way for a new punitive asylum and migration system within the EU, designed to deter, detain and deport people seeking protection,” says Marta Welander, IRC’s Head of EU Advocacy.
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