EU should not ‘trade in human beings’, warns Amnesty International

The European Union should not ‘trade’ with migrants or apply a ‘self-serving solidarity’ by outsourcing the management of its migration policy to third countries, including Libya or Tunisia, where human rights are not guaranteed, Amnesty International has warned.

“We are concerned that responsibility (for managing migration flows) is being transferred to third countries where, as Amnesty International has established, the human rights of migrants and refugees are being violated,” Veronica Barroso, an expert with Amnesty International (AI) in Spain, told Euractiv’s partner EFE in an interview.

Barroso’s reaction came just hours after El País, together with Lighthouse Reports and other international media, including Le Monde, revealed on Tuesday (21 May) that Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania, among other countries, are using EU funds to detain migrants and leave them stranded in the desert.

The revelations are particularly worrying in the run-up to the European elections, where the issue of migration features prominently.

According to the investigative report, “Every year, tens of thousands of people (…) end up exiled in desert areas or remote cities in North Africa. This is the punishment to which migrants and refugees who want to reach Europe aboard fragile boats or by jumping a fence (at the borders) are subjected”.

The report was published only days after the EU approved its migration and asylum pact, which, among other measures, tightens control over borders and illegal immigration, and shares the responsibility for the migration burden among all EU partners.

One of the latest negative examples of the externalisation of migration is the agreement  Italy and Albania signed in 2023 to transfer thousands of asylum seekers on Italian soil to the Balkan country.

Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands, ‘hotspots’ in Spain

But there are also other negative examples of migration agreements between the whole of the EU and third countries, including Libya, Tunisia, and recently Egypt, which “are not safe” and “do not have an asylum system”, Barroso warned.

“These third countries actually act as ‘gatekeepers’ to prevent migrants from reaching Europe,” she said.

“Instead of externalising migration, the EU should provide legal and safe ways for these people to reach our territory,” she stated.

A commission spokesperson said on Tuesday that “sometimes, the situation is challenging in our partner countries… (but they) remain sovereign states and they continue to be in control of their national forces”.

Chief Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer said that it is “a fast-moving situation, and we will continue to work on it”.

Spain, together with Italy and Malta, is one of the “hot spots” for migratory routes from North Africa, through the border between Spain and Morocco in the exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, and from sub-Saharan Africa with the migratory flows to the Canary Islands.

“We have denounced the cooperation agreements between Spain and Morocco on several occasions, and we are also very critical of the funds (EU and Spanish economic aid) for Morocco due to the total lack of transparency regarding the destination of these funds”, Barroso said.

According to the expert, “it is very difficult to trace” these European funds to “know their final destination”.

Recently, Amnesty International and other NGOs working in the field of human rights protection have sent a petition to the EU’s anti-fraud office OLAF, requesting that an investigation be opened to clarify how the funds that reach Morocco and other third countries destined for migration control are managed, Barroso said.

‘Solidarity à la carte’

Based on Amnesty International’s research on the ground in third countries, it is possible to deduce that some EU member states “may be adopting policies and measures that run counter to human rights” by outsourcing the management of migration flows, said Barroso.

To avoid violations of human rights and international law, the NGO urged the EU to ensure that future agreements with third countries “incorporate safeguards” on the protection of the fundamental rights of asylum seekers.

There are specific concerns related to the European elections in June, with the latest polls predicting a rise of far-right parties, including Fratelli d’Italia, Alternative for Germany (AfD) or Vox in Spain.

“We are concerned about the tone used by some EU governments on the issue of migration, which could incite hatred against migrants and refugees,” Barroso stressed.

“The solidarity mechanism (of the Migration and Asylum Pact), unfortunately, does not have a system with a single compulsory formula for relocation and reception by member states, and that allows whoever wants to can pay instead of taking in migrants”, the Amnesty International expert said.

“It is very worrying that human beings are being traded and that we are not talking about real solidarity to welcome these people in Europe, in a dignified and adequate way.”

What to do with migrants and refugees should not be left “to arbitrariness and to the will of each member state”, she concluded.

[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski/ Zoran Radosavljevic]

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