EU countries eye setting up migrant ‘return hubs’ in Rwanda and Uzbekistan

 

EU countries eye setting up migrant ‘return hubs’ in Rwanda and Uzbekistan

 

Push marks fresh test of Europe’s effort to outsource migration controls after years of legal setbacks and political controversy.

 

June 24, 2026 4:00 am CET

By Sebastian Starcevic and Nektaria Stamouli

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-countries-eye-setting-up-migrant-return-hubs-in-rwanda-and-uzbekistan/

 

BRUSSELS — A group of EU countries is considering sending rejected asylum seekers to Rwanda and Uzbekistan, three European diplomats confirmed, as the bloc moves to shift part of its migrant returns system beyond its borders for the first time.

 

The plans follow the approval of a law granting EU capitals the power to set up centers in non-EU countries for processing migrants who have been denied the right to stay in the bloc — so-called return hubs — provided those countries uphold human rights and international law. Over half of the EU’s 27 member countries called this month for swift action establishing the centers, in a letter seen by POLITICO.

 

Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands have spearheaded the push to process rejected asylum seekers offshore. “Our goal is to conclude the first agreements for the creation of these structures in 2026, so that they are operational from 2027,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said ahead of the law’s approval.

 

The countries hosting the centers have not yet been decided and the political and diplomatic process still needs to play out, two other European diplomats said.

 

The plans follow a series of controversial attempts by European governments to move migration management beyond the continent’s borders. Britain’s Rwanda plans were scrapped last year after years of legal and political battles, while Italy’s migrant centers in Albania have been repeatedly challenged in court. Backers say the EU’s new rules could succeed where earlier efforts struggled by providing a clear legal framework for offshore facilities.

 

Although governments are eyeing Rwanda and Uzbekistan, and this has been confirmed at the EU level, it would still be for individual governments to strike their own deals. The Commission, which has not been part of the talks to choose the countries, and other EU capitals have to be informed before the hubs start operating.

 

The EU has funneled hundreds of millions of euros into Rwanda through its Global Gateway program, announcing a €900 million investment in 2023. The bloc has also allocated €119 million in grant funding to Uzbekistan.

 

Another country being discussed behind closed doors is Uganda, said a senior European official from one of the core group countries, granted anonymity like the others to discuss the confidential plans. Countries geographically close to the bloc, such as Egypt and Libya, have been ruled out due to concerns around the risk of people smuggling, the official said.

 

Cyprus’ Migration Minister Nicholas Ioannides said ahead of the approval of the returns hub law that the “general idea” is to set up the centers “maybe in Africa or Asia,” but “not close to European borders.”

 

Ioannides said the protection of human rights will be a “yardstick” for the agreements, and the EU wants international organizations such as the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. refugee agency to help make sure the rules are upheld.

 

Uphill battle

The EU is falling prey to “populist rhetoric” and “alternative facts” about migrants, said Jean-Nicolas Beuze, UNHCR’s representative in Brussels. Refugees ran “the risk of being sent to a country” where they could “suffer irreparable harm,” he told POLITICO.

 

Some countries, including France and Spain, have challenged the scheme. “I have never ⁠seen a return center in a third country that ​actually works,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in Brussels last week, adding, “I’m not ‌sure ⁠that’s what our Europe is about.”

 

Greens MEP Mélissa Camara, who was her group’s lead negotiator on the EU’s new migration rules, told POLITICO that establishing return hubs outside the bloc’s borders “breaches the EU core values of dignity and compliance with fundamental rights.”

 

“By creating such hubs in Uzbekistan or Rwanda, we will therefore have no guarantee at all the human rights are complied with,” she added.

 

Under the new EU rules — which were passed in the European Parliament to chants of “send them home” from right-wing and far-right MEPs — the return hubs would house people who have already exhausted all their legal avenues to stay in the bloc and are awaiting deportation.

 

That differs from earlier offshore migration plans in Britain, Denmark and Italy, which focused on asylum seekers or newly arrived migrants. Those efforts struggled to gain traction: Italy’s Albania centers have been tied up in litigation, Denmark’s Rwanda plans stalled, and Britain’s Rwanda scheme was abandoned after years of legal challenges.

 

Gerardo Fortuna, Nick Vinocur and Max Griera contributed to this report.