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🇸🇪 Sweden /Elections & Politics

Europe moves closer to deportation camps as Denmark leads talks

From Dagens Nyheter · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Denmark, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Greece are pursuing arrangements with African countries to host migrants ordered to leave the EU.
  • Reports say Rwanda is negotiating with the five countries, while diplomats told Kathimerini that the EU countries are also close to an agreement with Uganda.
  • The EU return directive has not yet been formally adopted, but the Danish government says the project has entered a decisive phase and a pilot could launch next year.

Five European countries are moving ahead with plans to send migrants facing deportation to African “return hubs” or deportation camps, even before the European Union rules permitting such agreements have formally taken effect.

Migration ministers from Denmark, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Greece will meet in Copenhagen on Friday to discuss “concrete steps.” The five countries have spent months discussing possible host countries outside the EU for migrants who have received deportation orders.

Concrete steps.

· Danish governmentThe phrase describes the ministers’ planned discussions at the Copenhagen meeting.

Germany’s Der Spiegel reports that Rwanda is holding concrete negotiations with the five EU countries, a development confirmed by the Rwandan government. Diplomats told Greece’s Kathimerini that EU countries are also close to an agreement with Uganda. Amnesty International has criticized the reported plans, pointing to what it called “a terrible history regarding human rights” in both Uganda and Rwanda.

EU lawmakers reached agreement in June on the return directive. The legislation would allow member states to make agreements with non-EU countries to deport people there, even when those migrants have no connection to the country. The directive is expected to receive formal approval later this autumn.

A terrible history regarding human rights.

· Amnesty InternationalThe organization criticizes Rwanda and Uganda as potential host countries.

Eurostat figures show that fewer than one in three people whose asylum applications have been rejected in an EU country subsequently leave the bloc. Many of those who remain enter the shadow economy and society, according to the article. Danish government sources say no agreements have been finalized, but a pilot project will probably be launched next year.

Earlier efforts have faced legal and political obstacles. Britain’s previous Conservative government agreed in 2022 to send migrants to Rwanda, but the Supreme Court rejected the plan, ruling that Rwanda was not sufficiently safe. The Labour government later abandoned it after billions of kroner had been spent without results. Italy opened an asylum center in Albania in 2024, but the arrangement encountered legal challenges.

Decisive phase.

· Danish governmentThe government’s description of the project’s current stage.
About this summary

Originally published by Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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