Amnesty International warned On Wednesday, plans by five European Union governments to set up migrant return centers in Rwanda and Uganda threatened to become what they called “cruel black holes for human rights” two days before governments meet to review the progress of the plans.
Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, commented on the human rights risks posed by these migrant return centers and the potentially deplorable living conditions expected there:
These negotiations and the EU’s broader approach to so-called “migration diplomacy” are based on deep power asymmetries and reflect the EU’s blatant attempt to shirk its migration responsibilities and shift them to countries in the Global South that are already doing far more than Europe to welcome refugees and have fewer resources.
The warning comes as the EU Return Regulation, adopted by the European Parliament in June but still awaiting final approval by the Council, will provide the legal basis for such hubs once it comes into force. According to the regulation, the The European Commission has said such agreements can only be done with a third country “that respects international human rights standards and principles in accordance with international law, including the principle of non-refoulement.” The principle of non-refoulement codified at Article 33 The principle of the 1951 Refugee Convention remains a fundamental principle of international law and prohibits states from deporting refugees to a country where their life or freedom would be at risk.
In 2023 the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom agreed unanimously essential reasons to believe that asylum seekers transferred to Rwanda would face a real risk of refoulement, which would make the UK’s own return policy in Rwanda unlawful. The court’s reasoning also relied on Rwanda’s broader human rights record, including extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Uganda, meanwhile, criminalizes consensual same-sex behavior Anti-homosexuality lawmaking serious homosexuality a capital crime.
Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said in August that talks were still preliminary and no agreement had been reached. A A spokesman for the European Commission said this separately that the EU executive was “not involved in the discussions about the hubs”. Specifically, the Uganda talks are understood as bilateral negotiations between the five states and Kampala.
Migration ministers from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands will meet in Copenhagen on September 4 to discuss progress on the plans. A Ugandan center capable of housing up to 10,000 failed asylum seekers could reportedly be built by 2027. Amnesty raised similar concerns in March when it criticized the adoption of the European Parliament’s negotiating position on the return regulation as punitive.
