EU parliament backs law allowing offshore detention centres

BRUSSELS, June 17 - The European Parliament approved on Wednesday an overhaul of migration policy aimed at ramping up deportations and allowing member states to set up detention centres abroad, in what critics describe as a cruel system that weakens safeguards for asylum seekers.

The move underlines the rise in anti-immigration sentiment across the European Union over the past decade that has broadened popular support for far-right parties.

The text, which requires final formal approval from the 27 EU member governments, marks a sharp hardening of EU migration policy that has taken shape since an influx of over a million refugees and migrants in 2015-16.

"The Return Regulation will provide the necessary tools to make returns more efficient, with faster and more effective procedures," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a letter on Tuesday addressed to member states ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

EU countries say they struggle to ensure that rejected asylum seekers and people who overstay their visas leave their territory.

Critics argue EU migration policy has become too heavily focused on deterrence and deportation, overlooking the root causes of migration including conflict, poverty and political repression.

"The dehumanization of migrants and refugees, including in the UK, US, and many EU countries, is appalling, often leading also to the denial of their rights," Volker Turk, the United Nations' human rights chief, said on Monday in the United Nations Human Rights Council.

"The European Union's new rules on returning migrants risk expanding the use of detention, establishing offshore return hubs, and weakening safeguards against refoulement."

The Commission last month invited Taliban officials to Brussels to discuss deportations of Afghan migrants, despite warnings from human rights groups that such engagement could endanger Afghans and violate core EU values.

The Commission and the Swedish government, which is co-hosting the visit, said the meeting is technical and does not constitute recognition of Taliban rule.

The visit, scheduled for June 22 to 23 according to a letter seen by Reuters and addressed to Abdul Qaher Balkhi, a Taliban foreign ministry spokesman, will focus on "the return and readmission of Afghan nationals without a right to stay in the European Union."

The Commission said last month that the deportations would be limited to individuals "who pose a security risk".

Neither the Commission nor the Swedish migration minister confirmed the date of the meeting.

Western countries have refused to recognise the Taliban since the hardline Islamist group overthrew a U.S.- and NATO-backed government in Afghanistan in 2021 and regained power. REUTERS