European Commission paves way for controversial return hubs
The European Commission has unveiled a new system to ensure that people without the right to international protection are deported effectively and more quickly. The system also paves the way for controversial asylum return centres in third countries.
EU member states have struggled for years with how to effectively force asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies and other people without the right to protection to leave their territory. On average, barely 20 per cent of deportation decisions in the EU are currently carried out.
"Our return policy is failing," said Henna Virkkunen, vice-president for Technical Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. According to her, this is partly due to the different systems in place in the member states, which are open to abuse.
Enforcement measures
The Commission therefore proposes an EU-wide system with common procedures for issuing return decisions and the introduction of a European return order. Member states will mutually recognise these, so that an order issued by one member state can be immediately enforced by another.
The proposals include incentives for voluntary return, but also rules for enforced return. To prevent rejected asylum seekers from disappearing, there will be ways of tracing them, for example by requiring a financial guarantee. The period of detention will be extended from 18 to 24 months.
"Frankly, this is a new low for Europe”
The Commission also envisages a legal framework for the establishment of return centres in third countries on the basis of bilateral agreements. These agreements will only be concluded with countries that respect international human rights standards, the Commission said, and families with minors and unaccompanied minors will not be sent there.
Still, these return hubs are controversial. Opponents say they are expensive and legally unsound, and could lead to human rights abuses. "Such proposals are not only endlessly cruel, but catastrophic in reality,” said Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office. "Frankly, this is a new low for Europe.”
© PHOTO WOJTEK RADWANSKI / AFP
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