All the thorny questions the EU needs to answer to make 'return hubs' a reality

euronews (in English)

The project of establishing "return hubs" for rejected asylum seekers faces a myriad of challenges, including potential conflicts with international law.

Transcript

00:00The idea of outsourcing the detention of migrants outside the European Union is gaining ground

00:12in the political debate.

00:13The principle of these return centres, supported by around 10 member states, was raised last

00:18week at the European Summit.

00:21The President of the European Commission presented the project as one of the innovative ways

00:25of dealing with migration issues.

00:28Arsala von der Leyen admits, however, that she does not have all the answers.

00:33The discussion around the return hubs is concerning another group, those who have no right to

00:42stay in the European Union.

00:46In this context, the return hubs have been discussed, there are open questions, for how

00:52long can people be there, what are you doing, for example, if a return is not possible.

00:57So as I said, it's not trivial, but this is a topic that is being discussed.

01:04The proposal is causing controversy amongst the member states, with Spain making no secret

01:10of its opposition.

01:13Some analysts believe that if the political will is there to create these centres, the

01:18legal implementation will pose a number of problems.

01:22It's empty because what it will end up being is detention centres.

01:27Because of legal, practical and technical barriers, people cannot be sent, for the good

01:31reasons, back to countries of origin of transit, as it would entail profound human rights violations,

01:40and also contrary to constitutional guarantees, that everybody must have access to justice

01:46and to have their case individually assessed.

01:49Human rights NGOs are sounding the alarm.

01:52They believe that the consequences will be painful for asylum seekers.

01:56Every time we've seen this kind of scheme in practice, we've seen prolonged arbitrary

02:00detention, we've seen people separated from their families, we've seen people in an unbearable

02:05legal limbo, children and other groups in vulnerable situations falling between the

02:08cracks, we've seen people at risk of being sent back to danger and to persecution, and

02:13we've seen people being denied the right to asylum with all of the legal safeguards that

02:17is required at the EU.

02:20The President of the Commission says she wants to learn the lessons from the agreement signed

02:24in 2023 between Italy and Albania.

02:28The agreement provides for adult men intercepted by the Italian Coast Guard to be sent to the

02:32Balkan country.

02:34But as soon as it was implemented last week, the protocol was already in trouble.

02:39The Italian courts decided at the weekend to invalidate the transfer of the first 12

02:44migrants.

02:47For more UN videos visit www.un.org

Category

Transcript

Recommended