Greece is advancing a plan to transfer migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected and who cannot be immediately returned to their countries of origin to facilities in Africa, in coordination with Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark.
According to information reported, initial contacts regarding hosting the facilities, known as “return hubs,” have been made with Kenya, with approaches to Uganda and Rwanda expected to follow. A meeting of representatives from the five countries described as taking a hard line on migration policy is scheduled for Monday at a high technical level in Brussels. The plan is set to be presented March 5 at the European Union’s Council of Migration Ministers in Brussels.
Greece’s migration policy has become stricter in recent months during the tenure of Migration Minister Thanos Plevris, drawing criticism from the opposition. However, polling indicates the policy has majority approval and is not expected to change. Instead, it is intensifying, with the prime minister’s office offering full backing to the minister in this area.
The minister recently announced that Greece would cooperate with Germany to create return hubs in Africa. These are special facilities, usually located in third countries outside the European Union, where individuals whose asylum claims have been rejected are temporarily hosted. Their aim is to facilitate the safer and faster return of migrants residing irregularly in their countries of origin, serving as a tool to strengthen EU migration policy.
An example cited as a model is the Italy-Albania protocol, which provides for the transfer of migrants from Italy to centers in Albania.
Under the plan, thousands of cases involving migrants who were granted asylum, mainly from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, Iraq and Egypt, will be reexamined, with the main objective being their return to their countries of origin. When those countries do not accept them, the return hubs in Africa would be used.
Only migrants from the five participating countries would be sent to the centers. If, for example, a migrant of Pakistani origin is not accepted by his country, he would be transferred to a special center in Africa. Greece argues that as a first-entry country and a primary source of onward migration flows, it should participate in shaping solutions rather than perpetuating the problem.