BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥� The European Union on Thursday said it would drastically reduce asylum claims from seven nations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia by considering them , prompting widespread outrage from human rights groups on International Migrants’ Day.
An agreement between European Parliament and the European Council, or the group of the 27 EU heads of state, said that if they lack 鈥渞elevant circumstances, such as indiscriminate violence in the context of an armed conflict.鈥�
Asylum requests by people from Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco and Tunisia will be “fast-tracked, with applicants having to prove that this provision should not apply to them,鈥� read the announcement of the agreement. 鈥淭he list can be expanded in the future under the EU鈥檚 ordinary legislative procedure.鈥�
In 2024, EU nations endorsed to the bloc鈥檚 failed asylum system. The rules were meant to resolve the issues that have divided the 27 countries since well over 1 million migrants swept into Europe in 2015, most fleeing war in Syria and Iraq.
Under the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which goes into force in June 2026, people can be sent to countries deemed safe, but not to those where they face the risk of physical harm or persecution.
Amnesty International EU advocate Olivia Sundberg Diez said the new measures were 鈥渁 shameless attempt to sidestep international legal obligations” and would endanger migrants.
French MEP M茅lissa Camara said the safe countries of origins concept and others agreed to by the Council and Parliament 鈥渙pens the door to return hubs outside the EU鈥檚 borders, where third-country nationals are sometimes subjected to inhumane treatment with almost no monitoring鈥� and 鈥渦ndoubtedly places thousands of people in exile in situations of danger.鈥�
C茅line Mias, the EU director of the Danish Refugee Council said that “we are deeply worried that this fast-track system will fail to protect people in need of protection, including activists, journalists and marginalized groups in places where human rights are clearly under attack.鈥�
Alessandro Ciriani, an Italian MEP with the European Conservatives and Reformists group, said the designation sends a firm message that the EU has toughened its borders.
鈥淓urope wants enforceable rules and shared responsibility. Now this commitment must become operational: effective returns, structured cooperation with third countries and real measures to support EU member states,鈥� he said.
He said that clear delineations of safe and unsafe nations would rid the EU of 鈥渆xcessive interpretative uncertainty鈥� that led to a kind of paralysis for national decision makers over border controls.
The measures also allows individual nations within the bloc to designate other countries safe for their own immigration purposes.
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