Externalising asylum increases the risk of undermining the system of international protection

Motion for a resolution | Doc. 15912 | 25 January 2024

Signatories:

Mr Andrea ORLANDO, Italy, SOC ; Ms Sibel ARSLAN, Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Petra BAYR, Austria, SOC ; Mr Jone BLIKRA, Norway, SOC ; Ms Elena BONETTI, Italy, ALDE ; Ms Lise CHRISTOFFERSEN, Norway, SOC ; Mr Titus CORLĂŢEAN, Romania, SOC ; Mr Damien COTTIER, Switzerland, ALDE ; Mr Andi-Lucian CRISTEA, Romania, SOC ; Mr Yunus EMRE, Türkiye, SOC ; Ms Heike ENGELHARDT, Germany, SOC ; Mr Piero FASSINO, Italy, SOC ; Ms María FERNÁNDEZ, Spain, SOC ; Ms Aurora FLORIDIA, Italy, SOC ; Lord George FOULKES, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Tuula HAATAINEN, Finland, SOC ; Mr Domagoj HAJDUKOVIĆ, Croatia, SOC ; Mr Christophe LACROIX, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Max LUCKS, Germany, SOC ; Ms Alessandra MAIORINO, Italy, NR ; Mr Didier MARIE, France, SOC ; Ms Anna-Kristiina MIKKONEN, Finland, SOC ; Mr Simon MOUTQUIN, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Wanda NOWICKA, Poland, SOC ; Mr Julian PAHLKE, Germany, SOC ; Mr George PAPANDREOU, Greece, SOC ; Ms Valérie PILLER CARRARD, Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Filiz POLAT, Germany, SOC ; Ms Agnes Sirkka PRAMMER, Austria, SOC ; Mr Axel SCHÄFER, Germany, SOC ; Mr Davor Ivo STIER, Croatia, EPP/CD ; Mr Namık TAN, Türkiye, SOC ; Mr Francesco VERDUCCI, Italy, SOC

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

In November 2023 was signed the Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Albania that provides for the construction of two centers to process asylum seekers' applications on Albanian territory. The Memorandum “raises several human rights concerns”, said the Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, “impacting on search and rescue operations, fairness of asylum procedures, identification of vulnerable persons, the possibility of automatic detention without an adequate judicial review, detention conditions, access to legal aid, and effective remedies”.

The Memorandum is indicative of a wider drive by Council of Europe member States to pursue various models of externalising asylum, that significantly increases the risk of undermining the European and global system of international protection. The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons during its meeting on 23 January 2024, held a discussion on “The UK-Rwanda deal and its consequences in Europe”.

The Parliamentary Assembly, in its Resolution 2461 (2022), has already dealt with the role of safe third countries for asylum seekers, but a new report should be prepared to examine these recent attempts to “outsourcing” asylum seekers and the risk of restricting access to international protection, as well as breaching the principle that procedural safeguards shall be guaranteed for migrants.