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Britain and the European Union should stop using the Balkans as a "depot for migrants," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday, joining the debate over the use of "return centers" by third countries for asylum seekers.
The EU and the UK have taken steps towards processing potential migrants outside their borders, seeking to deal with a surge in arrivals that has become a hot political issue.
The EU decided in March to allow members to process migrants outside the 27-nation bloc's borders, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that his government had opened talks with several countries about setting up "return centres" for rejected asylum seekers to await deportation.
He did not name countries, but the Balkans seem like a potential partner. Starmer made the announcement during a visit to Albania — which already hosts migrant return centers for Italy — and his government recently unveiled a six billion euro investment package in North Macedonia.
“Rather than treating the Balkans as a dumping ground for migrants, the EU and the UK could play an important role in supporting the development of functioning asylum systems and better frameworks for protecting migrants’ rights,” HRW said.
It cited the example of Bosnia, a country “that is already being used as a dumping ground for people who happen to pass through on their way to the EU,” according to Hugh Williamson, HRW’s Europe and Central Asia director.
“Adding asylum seekers rejected by the UK, or potentially the EU, to Bosnia’s already worrisome detention system would only exacerbate existing problems and exacerbate abuses,” Williamson said in a statement, saying that Bosnian prison inmates have limited access to lawyers and other basic rights.
Bosnia granted refugee status to only 4 out of 147 applicants in 2023, and asylum seekers often wait months "essentially without rights" for a decision, the group said.
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