In response to the agreements between the European Parliament and the Council on new EU asylum rules, which undermine the basis of refugee protection, Olivia Sandberg Diez, EU Migration and Asylum Lawyer at Amnesty International, said:
“This is an unprecedented attack on asylum in the EU, and must be understood in the context of a wide range of punitive deportation measures, which are still being negotiated. This shameful attempt to evade international legal obligations further shifts the EU’s responsibility for refugee protection to countries outside Europe, and is a far cry from a humane migration policy that upholds people’s dignity.”
“Changes to the concept of a ‘safe third country’ will mean that EU asylum seekers could have their claims rejected without review, and could be sent to countries they have no contact with and may never have set foot in before. Today’s agreement represents a waiver of the EU’s commitment to protecting refugees, and paves the way for EU member states to broker agreements with third countries to process asylum claims abroad.
“Today’s agreement also introduces an EU-wide list of countries of origin deemed ‘safe’, putting the burden on asylum seekers to prove otherwise. This undermines the individual assessment of protection claims, and raises another hurdle in the legal maze that will undoubtedly see vulnerable people denied the protection they need.”
background
On 18 December, the European Parliament and the Council approved proposed rules to amend the concept of “safe third country” in the EU Asylum Procedures Regulation, as well as introducing an EU-wide list of “safe countries of origin”.
The rules will make it easier for member states to apply the “safe third country” concept to reject asylum claims as inadmissible, without examining their merits, and to forcibly transfer people seeking safety to countries they have no contact with, or may have only passed through. These rules will apply from June 2026, along with the rest of the Migration and Asylum Charter.
The new EU-wide list of safe countries of origin includes Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco, and Tunisia, in addition to countries nominated to join the European Union (with exceptions). It is assumed that nationals of these countries do not require protection and will be directed through expedited asylum procedures, detracting from the individual assessment of their claims. Provisions expanding “safe country of origin” designations may apply immediately.
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