Is the EU considering a Rwanda-style asylum system?

BRUSSELS - The European Union has proposed an overhaul of its migrant deportation rules with the possibility of "return hubs" to fast-track the expulsion of rejected asylum seekers, marking a major shift towards off-shoring procedures.

The proposal aims to boost the current return rate of 20% and comes after a slew of elections saw support for anti-immigration, far-right parties grow across the continent.

Plans to boost deportations have echoes of the United Kingdom's controversial -- and now scrapped -- scheme to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda.

But the EU proposal contains a few key differences.

Here's what you need to know:

What is being proposed?

Under a new plan unveiled on March 11, migrants with no legal right to remain in the EU would be sent to "return hubs" while they await deportation.

The proposal also establishes bloc-wide return orders, so that an order to leave one member state would mean leaving the entire EU.

The aim is to relieve pressure on strained asylum processing centres and deter migrants from taking dangerous routes to get to Europe.

Out of 484,000 non-EU citizens ordered to leave the EU last year, only 20% returned home, but numbers are rising.

Of the more than 96,000 non-EU citizens ordered to leave in the second quarter of 2024, 25,000 were returned to third countries, an increase of 21.3% compared with the same quarter of 2023.

France's Interior Ministry released preliminary figures in February showing about 22,000 illegal migrants were deported in 2024, an increase of nearly 27% over 2023.

Algerian nationals constituted the largest share of non-EU citizens ordered to leave, followed by citizens from Morocco, Turkey, Syria and Afghanistan.

The proposal requires approval by the European Parliament and EU member states, and opinion is divided.

Why is the EU proposing this now?

Facilitating deportations has been a long-term priority for the EU, but previous efforts to revise rules have failed.

Despite numbers of irregular arrivals dropping by 38% last year, the lowest level since 2021, there is growing public support in some countries for politicians calling for tougher controls, and governments are adapting policies in response.

Poland's parliament approved a bill to temporarily suspended the right to asylum of people arriving from Belarus in February, while Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Italy and Slovenia have also introduced border checks.

How do the new proposals differ from the UK's Rwanda scheme?

Some analysts note similarities between the EU proposal and Britain's scrapped Rwanda scheme, which would have required people arriving illegally to be sent to the central African country even if their asylum requests could eventually have been accepted.

So far no countries have been earmarked to host "return hubs". The Netherlands is considering sending rejected asylum seekers to Uganda but acknowledged it might not be feasible.

The EU proposal is similar to Australia's offshore processing of asylum claims in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. The United Nations and aid agencies have said human rights abuses occur at detention centres there and have called for their closure.

Will it work and what are the human rights concerns?

The proposal raises legal, ethical and financial questions.

Rights groups have said it would contribute to the "dehumanisation" and "criminalisation" of migrants and called for robust safeguards or a rejection of the proposals.

"Nobody should ever be forced to go to a country that is unsafe or where their rights cannot be guaranteed, regardless of their legal status," the International Rescue Committee's EU advocacy director Marta Welander said.

Returns require the cooperation of the receiving country, which can be challenging when there are no diplomatic ties, such as between Syria or Afghanistan and many EU countries.

However, Germany resumed deportations of convicted criminals of Afghan origin back to their home country in August in a deal mediated by Qatar, meaning Germany did not have to negotiate directly with the Taliban, who returned to power in 2021.

This story was updated on March 13 to reflect the new European Commission proposal

(Reporting by Joanna Gill; Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile.)