EU to give all-clear for Rwanda-style detention camps for migrants

Telegraph

11-03-2025

EU governments will be able to set up offshore detention camps for failed asylum seekers legally under laws proposed by Brussels.
The new legal framework will allow Rwanda plan-style arrangements with non-EU countries to host migrants who are slated for deportation.
The legislation marks a shift on migration for Brussels which in 2018 ruled out deals with non-EU countries to process asylum seekers amid ethical and legal concerns.
Attitudes towards immigration have hardened in Europe, which has suffered a string of terror attacks blamed on migrants and seen a series of electoral successes for hard-Right anti-migrant parties.
The European Commission proposal came after more than half of the EU's 27 leaders urged stricter return rules in October.
It is seen as a victory for a model pioneered by Georgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, whose coalition government has built two migrant centres in Albania, a non-EU nation, through which it hopes tens of thousands of migrants can be processed.
In October, Ms Meloni said that 'almost the whole of Europe [is discussing] our initiatives to curb irregular immigration and stop human trafficking, [with] some nations considering them as models'.
The project has, however, been dogged by court challenges.
Data show that less than 20 per cent of unauthorised migrants who are ordered to leave Europe do so.
'On the return hubs, we are creating the scope for member states to explore new solutions for return,' Magnus Brunner, the EU commissioner for migration, told a press conference in Strasbourg.
'We are creating the legal frame, we're not creating the content,' he added of the reforms, which drew inspiration from Italy's deal with Albania.
Under EU rules, migrants can only be sent back to their countries of origin or a country they transited through, unless they agree otherwise.
The new proposal would allow the creation of 'return hubs' outside the EU, where failed asylum seekers could be sent pending transfer home.
It will be up to individual EU governments to strike deals with the non-EU countries.
'Member states have called for innovative solutions for migration management. This proposal introduces the legal possibility to return individuals who are illegally staying in the EU and have received a final return decision, to a third country,' the commission said.
Agreements will be possible only with countries where human rights 'are respected', and minors and families with children will be exempt. The agreements must be subject to monitoring.
The EU reforms also allow more conditions under which irregular migrants can be detained, which was previously a last resort.
Authorities will be authorised to hold those considered at risk of absconding or who pose a security risk, as well as people who do not cooperate with return procedures.
Detention is also possible 'to determine or verify' someone's identity or nationality, according to the plan, which needs backing from parliament and member states to become law.
The commission then said such hubs were neither 'desirable nor feasible'.
EU member states backing the camps included Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Malta and the Baltic states. Spain was among those opposing the proposal.
Germany's chancellor in waiting, Friedrich Merz, has vowed to take back control of German borders and expressed support for the now-ditched British Rwanda Plan before his election.
Unlike the return hubs, the Rwanda plan envisaged sending migrants to Africa before their asylum claims were heard. The British Rwanda plan was deemed unlawful by the UK Supreme Court.
EU member Denmark has been in discussions with Rwanda over a similar plan but it has been on hold, amid legal difficulties.
No countries have agreed to host the deportation camps. In October there were reports that western Balkans countries hoping to join the EU could be approached.
Albania has ruled out making any deals additional to the one already struck with Italy. Moldova has ruled out hosting any camps.
Kosovo, which already hosts Dutch prisoners, and Bosnia and Serbia were also mentioned in reports, but any hubs would face stiff domestic opposition.
'A new low for Europe'
Jacob Kirkegaard, of the Bruegel think tank, said that Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, had chosen the 'path of least resistance' at a time when Brussels is dealing with a crisis in Ukraine and the threat of a trade war with the US.
'This is simply about political bandwidth,' he said, adding that Mrs von der Leyen would let the member states do what they want.
'The European Commission has caved to the unworkable, expensive and inhumane demands of a few shrill anti-human rights and anti-migration governments,' said Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty International's European Institutions Office.
'Frankly, this is a new low for Europe. Across Australia's offshore detention scheme, Italy's agreement with Albania, or the UK's aborted Rwanda scheme, we have seen these tried-and-failed policies before.'
Marta Welander, of the International Rescue Committee, said: 'Without extremely robust safeguards in place, the EU's new proposals are likely to result in individuals being uprooted from their communities, families being torn apart, people being held in prison-like conditions, and the grave risk of increased human rights violations.'
The European Commission said its proposal did not break the European Convention on Human Rights, although that is likely to be challenged in the courts if individual governments put the plan into practice.
'Agreements or arrangements with a non-EU country hosting a return hub will have to include strong protection conditions,' the commission said.
Only people who have exhausted all appeals can be sent to the camps. The centres have to be in countries that respect international human rights law, including non-refoulement, which prevents people being sent to countries where their rights could be at risk from, for example, torture.
The commission added: 'A clear number of safeguards would have to be part of the agreements or arrangements, such as the existence of an independent body or mechanism to monitor the application of the agreement or arrangement Unaccompanied minors and families with children are excluded from returns to return hubs.'
The EU executive also argues that effective returns protect the human right to security for other citizens.
Italy's plan to send single, male migrants to Albania and then back to their home countries has been challenged by the European Court of Justice as well as by courts in Italy, which argue it is illegal and violates migrants' rights.
Ms Meloni has expressed deep frustration with the court decisions and insists that the scheme will one day work.
The €670 million (£565 million) deal signed with Albania in 2023 envisaged up to 3,000 male migrants being processed in the centres in northern Albania each month.
So far, a few dozen migrants have been taken by ship to the Albanian centres and none has stayed for more than a day or two.
All had to be brought to Italy as a result of court rulings.