The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, reminded five EU governments intending to launch joint initiatives to establish return hubs outside the EU that externalization plans should have sufficient guardrails aligned with international human rights law.

In letters to foreign ministers of Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands, published on July 16, O’Flaherty drew attention to the findings of his September 2025 report, "Externalized Asylum and Migration Policies and human rights law", wherein he warned that sending people to return hubs "would present considerable human rights risks".

"External co-operation on asylum and migration needs to be designed and implemented with great care, so as not to put human rights at risk. Governments developing externalization policies in this field should carefully assess their potential negative impact on human rights, as such policies can expose women, men and children to significant risks of serious harm and protracted suffering," said O’Flaherty in a statement when the report was released.

The report examined externalization policies already implemented or being negotiated across Europe and provided an overview of the challenges of transferring asylum, return and border control functions to other countries.

Three areas were surfaced as particularly at risk:

1. External processing of asylum claims
2. External return procedures, including “return hubs”
3. Outsourcing of border control to other countries, some of which have a record of human rights violations against people on the move

Read AlsoEU pushes ahead with plans for migrant return hubs outside Europe

Guardrails

O'Flaherty's proposed four core ‘guardrails’, based on international human rights law and standards, are:

• Adopt a precautionary approach through comprehensive human rights risk assessments and adequate risk mitigation strategies before engaging in external co-operation. Additionally, ongoing activities for their human rights impact should also be reviewed.

The document referenced proposals that go beyond return to transit countries to the transfer of asylum seekers to countries "where they have never been and where they have no connection".

Transfers to countries without the link of prior stay or transit and further connections are currently not covered by EU law, the report noted. However, the European Commission‘s proposal to reform the 'safe third country' concept, "would appear to lay the groundwork for this to change."

• Clear and non-negotiable principles that exclude any cooperation likely to put people at risk of human rights violations. Children and other vulnerable people should never be subjected to externalized procedures.

Direct and indirect human rights risks should be carefully evaluated, especially for people who face particular vulnerabilities such as pregnant people, the elderly, victims of torture or human trafficking.

• Legally binding agreements for co-operation on return hubs that feature enforceable human rights clauses. Additionally, adequate human rights preconditions and safeguards should prevent the shifting of responsibility to other countries. Use of return hubs should be limited to clearly defined situations.

For transfer arrangements to be lawful and appropriate, they should be aimed at leveling responsibility sharing and international or regional cooperation, under a common goal of enhancing the protection space.

"By contrast, the types of externalized asylum procedures that some Council of Europe member states have recently pursued appear to exclude large groups of people from applying for protection on their territories and are primarily conceived as deterrents and to shift responsibilities," the report noted.

• Strengthen transparency, monitoring and accountability through transparent information-sharing, independent monitoring, and effective investigations of any alleged violations. Risk assessments, mitigation plans, monitoring outcomes and agreements should be made accessible and public for parliamentary, public, and citizen scrutiny.

Read AlsoEU lawmakers approve new tougher migrant policy

Return hubs

Return hubs are physical centers in non-EU countries where people with rejected asylum claims would be sent to await deportation. The goal is to speed up deportations by processing returns in third countries rather than inside the EU. Only about 20 to 30 percent of roughly 700,000 annual return orders are currently enforced.

Four of the five countries replied to O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, saying that cooperation with third countries for the establishment of return hubs would be done through comprehensive cooperation to ensure that principles of international law and related doctrines on asylum and refugee protection would be upheld while pursuing what was termed as an innovative and legitimate solution to migration and asylum.

Denmark had yet to submit their reply.

In June, changes to the EU's Common European Asylum System (CEAS) took effect under the new Pact on Migration and Asylum.

The main objectives of the reforms are to introduce uniform procedures across EU member states to streamline and speed up asylum matters. Additionally, the overhaul of the asylum system was intended to alleviate some of the burden of countries at the forefront of receiving people presenting for asylum, such as Greece, Italy and Spain.

Return hubs are underpinned as a main strategy for the implementation of the new asylum rules.

Read AlsoEU migrant 'return hubs' – explained