Photo credit: Aljazeera
The European Parliament has passed new legislation letting member states deport migrants to designated “safe” countries outside the EU even if they are not from those nations.
ALJazeera reports that European lawmakers approved the measure on Tuesday with a vote of 396-226 as cintre and far-right members backed it.
Under the new rules, EU states will be able to send asylum seekers to third countries they merely transited through, provided those countries are deemed to respect “international standards” for migrant treatment.
They could also deport asylum seekers to “safe” third countries with which they have no prior ties, if an agreement is reached with the host state, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported. The rules are expected to take effect in June.
The move underlines the rise in anti-immigration sentiment across the European Union over the past decade that has broadened popular support for far-right parties.
The legislation’s text – which requires final formal approval from the 27 EU member governments – marks a sharp hardening of EU migration policy that has taken shape since an influx of more than one million refugees and migrants in 2015-16.
Rights groups warned the policy could be used to deport migrants to countries where they have no ties and can be mistreated.
“The new “safe third country” rules are likely to force people to countries they may never have set foot on – places where they have no community, do not speak the language, and face a very real risk of abuse and exploitation,” aid Meron Ameha Knikman, senior adviser for the International Rescue Committee.
During Tuesday’s session, the European Parliament also signed off a list of “safe countries” including Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia.
Migrants in some of those countries, including Morocco and Tunisia, have reportedly faced widespread abuse and mistreatment, including being expelled into remote de3sert zones in Tunisia.
Cecilia Strada, an Italian lawmaker in the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament that voted against the designations, said the “so-called ‘safe countries of origin’ are not safe”.
