Amnesty International warned [15] Sept. 2 that plans by five European Union governments for migrant return hubs in Rwanda and Uganda risk becoming "cruel black holes for human rights." The statement came two days before the governments are to meet to review progress on the plans.
Cmmenting on the human rights risks that these migrant return hubs pose, Eve Geddie, director of the European Institutions Office at Amnesty International, stated:
These negotiations, and the EU's broader so-called "migration diplomacy' approach, are based on deep power asymmetries reflecting an unabashed attempt by the EU to shirk its migration responsibilities and shift them on to countries in the Global South that are already doing far more than Europe to receive refugees and with fewer resources.
The warning comes as the EU Return Regulation [16], approved by the European Parliament in June but still awaiting final approval by the European Council, is set to provide the legal basis for such hubs, once it takes effect. Under the Regulation, the European Commission has said such arrangements [18] can only be made 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, which is codified under Article 33 [19] of the 1951 Refugee Convention, remains a fundamental principle of international law and prohibits nations from expelling refugees to a country where their life or freedom would be at stake.
In 2023, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom unanimously found substantial grounds [20] to believe that asylum seekers transferred to Rwanda would face a real risk of refoulement, making the UK's Rwanda removal policy [21] unlawful. The court’s reasoning also drew on Rwanda's broader human rights record, including extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Uganda, meanwhile, criminalizes consensual same-sex conduct under its Anti-Homosexuality Act [22], which makes "aggravated homosexuality" a capital offense.
Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said in August that the discussions remained preliminary and that no agreement had been reached. A European Commission spokesperson said [23] separately that the EU executive is "not involved in the discussions on the hubs." The Uganda talks are understood to be bilateral negotiations between each of the five states and Kampala.
Migration ministers from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands are set to meet in Copenhagen on September 4 to review progress on the plans, which reports indicate could produce a Ugandan center accommodating up to 10,000 rejected asylum seekers by 2027. Amnesty raised similar alarm [24] in March, when it criticized the European Parliament's adoption of its negotiating position on the Return Regulation as punitive in nature.
From JURIST [25], Dec. 3. Used with permission. Internal links added.
