Plans to send rejected asylum seekers to detention-style “return hubs” outside the European Union are gathering pace, with five EU countries now aiming to strike an agreement with an unnamed non-EU partner by the start of next year, Denmark’s migration minister said.
Denmark, Greece, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands backed the initiative as Copenhagen hosted talks focused on establishing migrant detention centres beyond Europe’s borders.
“Around New Year, we expect to have a common understanding with a partner country outside of the European Union,” Danish Migrations Minister Morten Bodskov said.
The prospective host country—or countries—has not been identified publicly, though Uganda and Rwanda are widely viewed as possible candidates.
Speaking as he arrived for the meeting, Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris said the ambition was to have “the return hub operational in a country outside the European Union by 2027”.
Earlier on the same day, Denmark indicated it would be prepared to begin transferring rejected asylum seekers to such hubs by the end of 2027, rather than from the start of that year.
“We do not accept that foreigners staying illegally in Denmark should be rewarded because of our difficulties in returning them,” Mr Bodskov said in that earlier statement.
The push comes after the European Parliament in June approved stricter migration rules that expand authorities’ ability to detain migrants and open the door to establishing “return hubs”.
Human rights organisations have sharply criticised the concept.
Similar efforts elsewhere have run into trouble: Britain dropped a plan to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda, and Italian-run centres designed to process migrants in Albania have been slowed by legal challenges and limited participation.
