In Data: Which countries are on the EU's 'safe list'?

LONDON - The European Union has proposed a "safe countries of origin" list as part of its overhaul of migration legislation, with the aim of speeding up asylum applications that are unlikely to be successful.

Asylum seekers from the seven countries on the list - Colombia, Kosovo, Bangladesh, India, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia - are granted protection in the EU in less than 20% of cases.

If the list - proposed in April - is adopted as part of the bloc's new Migration Pact, which comes into effect next year, applicants from those countries will be subject to an expedited asylum procedure lasting no more than three months.

The European Parliament and member states still need to vote on adopting the list.

The safe list has been criticised by human rights organisations, who fear it could undermine asylum seekers' rights to fair asylum procedures.

Processing applications in tight timeframes increases the risk of overlooking an individual's need for protection and limits access to legal support, according to a statement released by Amnesty International and signed by 51 other rights organisations.

The groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Danish Refugee Council, also questioned the safety of the countries on the list, noting all have records of human rights violations. Vulnerable groups, such as political dissidents and

LGBTQ+ people, also face risks if their applications are rejected and they are forced to return, the statement said.

Economic hardship, worsening climate crises and political instability have driven higher numbers of people from safe list countries to seek protection in the EU in recent years.

Colombia, Egypt, Morocco and Bangladesh are among the top 10 countries of origin of asylum applicants to the bloc in the last decade, according to EU statistics.

Applications from these countries increased in 2021 and have remained high since, while the number of applicants from India and Kosovo are much fewer.

Free from persecution?

Under the Migration Pact, a country may only be designated as a safe country of origin if it can be shown that there is no real risk of serious harm or persecution.

The inclusion of Egypt and Tunisia, where human rights abuses have come under scrutiny, has been criticised by rights groups.

Sixteen human rights organisations wrote an open letter to warn the EU against designating Egypt as a safe country, citing restrictions on freedom of expression and persecution of activists, journalists and political opponents.

Colombia is the only country on the safe list that is ranked as politically "free" by Freedom House, an organisation that tracks civil liberties and political rights around the world.

In the EU's proposal for safe countries of origin, it acknowledged the prosecution of political opponents and activists in Egypt and Tunisia, but concluded that their populations in general do not face real risk of persecution.

It also acknowledged the threat of violence by armed groups in Colombia and discrimination and harassment of LGBTQ+ people in Bangladesh and similarly concluded that their populations do not generally risk persecution.

Tunisia, Morocco and Bangladesh all criminalise same-sex acts in their penal codes. India scrapped a ban on gay sex in 2018, but many LGBTQ+ people still fear coming out and say discrimination and abuse are rife.

(Reporting by Beatrice Tridimas; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley.)