A deportation centre outside the EU could begin receiving migrants by the end of 2027, as Denmark and four other member states push ahead with the plan. The governments say the plan will deter people smugglers. Amnesty International warns that such facilities could become “cruel black holes” for human rights.
Ministers from Denmark, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Greece met in Copenhagen on Friday to discuss concrete steps towards an agreement with a non-EU country. They did not announce a host country, although Rwanda and Uganda have reportedly been considered.
“We have come a long way in the work of establishing a return hub outside the EU, and we are now closer than ever before,” Danish Immigration Minister Morten Bødskov said. He added that Denmark expected to begin transferring people by the end of 2027.
Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said the project was particularly important for countries at the EU’s external border. “We don’t want to transfer the problem to other EU countries. We want to stop the problem at the borders,” he said.
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The participating governments argued that creating a functioning return system would send a clear message to migrant-smuggling networks: that people without permission to remain in the EU would be removed.
Host stay undisclosed
Return hubs would accommodate people who have received orders to leave the EU but cannot immediately be returned to their countries of origin. The model differs from transferring asylum applicants abroad while their claims are assessed, although both approaches move responsibility for migrants beyond EU territory.
The five governments are seeking their first partnership with a non-EU country, but negotiations remain confidential. Rwanda and Uganda are reportedly under consideration, with one proposal involving a centre in Uganda capable of holding up to 10,000 people. Neither country has been officially confirmed.
We don’t want to transfer the problem to other EU countries. We want to stop the problem at the borders. — Thanos Plevris, Greek Migration Minister
The UK previously attempted to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda. Its Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that the country was not safe because of the risk that people could be sent onwards to places where they faced persecution.
Today’s meeting ended without a host country or completed partnership being announced. Their decision to continue the project nevertheless moves return hubs closer to implementation, leaving the prospective partner and timetable among the main unresolved questions.
Human-rights groups question safeguards
Amnesty International called on the five governments to abandon the plans. It warned that people transferred to the centres could face arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, inadequate access to legal remedies or further deportation to unsafe countries.
“There is a real danger that these locations will, in practice, become cruel black holes for human rights to outsource or offshore detention and deportation,” said Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty’s European Institutions Office.
The organisation expressed particular concern about the human-rights records of Rwanda and Uganda and instability in the surrounding Great Lakes region. The Council of Europe’s human-rights commissioner has separately asked the five governments to establish safeguards against arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and unlawful onward deportations.
The proposed EU Return Regulation would provide a legal basis for member states to establish hubs in third countries and requires agreements to respect international human-rights standards. However, the legislation still awaits formal adoption. Critics question whether European governments could guarantee safety, legal representation and independent oversight after transferring people outside the EU.
