Denmark and four EU states target 2027 for migrant "return hubs"

Denmark and four other European Union countries agreed Friday, September 4, on a model for establishing “return hubs” in non-EU countries and hope to begin transferring migrants to the facilities as early as 2027, a Danish official told the Associated Press.

The agreement, reached after a one-day meeting in Copenhagen, marks the latest step in efforts by EU countries to send people whose asylum applications have been rejected to third countries outside the bloc.

“We are moving forward toward what is actually a fundamental transformation of the common European migration and asylum system,” said Morten Bødskov, Denmark’s minister of immigration and integration.

Bødskov made the remarks at a news conference alongside his counterparts from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece. The five countries have been negotiating mainly with African governments over potential locations for the facilities, taking the lead in an initiative intended to shape migration policy across the EU.

Human rights groups have criticised plans to send migrants to centres or prisons in third countries, arguing that European governments cannot guarantee that their rights would be respected there.

Bødskov rejected the suggestion that the term “return hubs” was a euphemism for detention and deportation centres. He said the International Organisation for Migration and the U.N. Refugee Agency would monitor the facilities.

“We are not talking about camps, we are talking about opportunities, for a new chance for irregular migrants who cannot return to their own country today and who have no legal grounds to be in our countries,” Bødskov said.

The U.N. Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, told The Associated Press that it “has not been approached with details of such a proposal,” and therefore “cannot comment on the specific arrangements being discussed or on what any potential role for UNHCR might entail.”

The International Organisation for Migration, or IOM, said no decision had been made on its potential role in “return hubs.” “Discussions remain exploratory,” the organisation said, adding that it had provided only “technical advice to some EU Member States on safeguards and operational considerations.”

“We have consistently underscored that any such initiative must comply with EU regulatory and legal frameworks, protect migrants’ rights, respect partner countries’ interests, and ensure individuals’ access to meaningful, sustainable solutions,” an IOM spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The five countries — Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece — have yet to identify a partner country for the facilities. Denmark has said it expects to be ready to transfer the first migrants to a partner country outside the EU by the end of 2027.

By Tamilla Hasanova