Proposed 'return hubs' must respect migrants' rights: EU agency

By AFP

The European Union's rights watchdog said Thursday that its prospective "return hubs" for accommodating rejected asylum seekers must not turn into a "rights-free zone".

The 27-nation bloc is contemplating setting up return centres outside the EU for failed asylum seekers who would stay there pending their return home.

"The planned return hubs cannot become rights-free zones. They would only comply with EU law if they include robust and effective fundamental rights safeguards," said Sirpa Rautio, director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

Member states and the Frontex border agency would be "accountable for rights violations at the hubs and during any transfers", according to the Vienna-based agency.

The EU is contemplating setting up the centres as less than 20 percent of people ordered to leave the bloc are returned to their country of origin, according to EU data.

The FRA said everyone sent to a hub must have a "legal and enforceable decision" ordering them to leave the EU.

It added that rejected asylum seekers must not be exposed to harm in their country of origin when returned, and urged independent monitoring of compliance with fundamental rights in the hubs.

The EU must also have an agreement with the host country, setting the standards for the treatment of those there, the FRA added.

Italy, along with Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands, is among those pushing for return hubs, but consensus is still a long way off, according to diplomats.

Italy already runs two centres in non-EU country Albania to process people rescued in the Mediterranean.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is examining legal questions raised by several Italian courts over the scheme.