Migrant rights will be safeguarded at third-country return hubs, EU migration commissioner says

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The European Union’s executive arm will monitor any agreement to set up so-called return hubs in non-EU countries so that the rights of rejected asylum seekers sent there are protected, the bloc's migration commissioner said Friday.

Magnus Brunner said any such deal will also be vetted by the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. refugee agency to ensure compliance with those legal safeguards.

“Human rights standards and international law is non-negotiable,” Brunner told a news conference during a meeting of EU migration ministers to mark the implementation of the bloc’s new migration and asylum pact.

The return hub concept is just one of the new pact’s provisions that have been met with skepticism from human rights groups that question whether these centers could turn into long-term holding facilities overflowing with failed asylum seekers stuck in legal limbo.

Greece repeated Friday that it is one of five EU members, along with Germany, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, that is negotiating with African countries to set up such return hubs on their territory.

According to the Greek Migration Ministry, the five EU countries are to strike a deal with these unnamed third countries this year so that the return hubs can be up and running in 2027.

Brunner wouldn’t say which third countries are being considered for the return hubs, deferring instead to the five countries that are holding such negotiations.

“We created the rules, we create the basis, but it’s up to the member state to negotiate agreements if they want to,” the EU commissioner said. He added that EU reforms are paying off, with a 90% drop in irregular migrant arrivals from the Western Balkan route over the past three years, as well as a 67% reduction from Turkey to Greece's Aegean islands in the first four months of this year.

Cypriot Deputy Minister for Migration Nicholas Ioannides said the east Mediterranean island nation would join return hub negotiations once its six-month term at the EU’s helm comes to an end July 1.

Ioannides downplayed criticism from human rights groups about the bloc’s new migration and asylum pact that they say could deny legitimate asylum seekers a chance at a new life by rushing assessments.

He said these groups “disagree with the gist of this project, with the whole architecture,” adding that the EU’s priority was to implement new rules so that it won’t get caught unprepared in the event of another massive influx of migrants like in 2015.

Brunner argued the new pact offers protection “to actually those in need” by putting in place “clearer and more effective rules” that combat illegal migration routes and people smugglers.

Also on Friday, Cyprus announced a deal with Lithuania on relocating migrants granted international protection to the Baltic country.