Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, along with a cohort of over 90 NGOs, have issued a joint statement calling upon the European Union (EU) and its member states to uphold the right to seek asylum within Europe. This collective effort underscores the obligations enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, particularly Article 18, which guarantees the right to asylum.
The joint statement criticizes current practices where member states attempt to externalize asylum procedures to third countries, a tactic seen as evading their responsibilities under international refugee protection frameworks. These externalization measures, the NGOs argue, compromise the rule of law and undermine commitments to refugee protection.
Notably, the European Commission has been facilitating agreements between member states and non-EU countries to manage and deter migration flows toward the EU. Such policies have come under scrutiny for lacking human rights safeguards and effective monitoring mechanisms, illustrated by the controversial Italy-Albania migration agreement.
In their statement, the NGOs highlight a UNHCR Note confirming that externalization measures breach the 1951 Refugee Convention and undermine the principles of international cooperation, responsibility-sharing, and solidarity. The EU’s current legal framework, including the recently adopted Pact on Migration and Asylum, does not support these shifting mechanisms.
HRW’s Europe and Central Asia advocacy director, Iskra Kirova, emphasized that the EU should redirect its efforts toward developing humane, sustainable, and realistic asylum processing policies within EU territory, rather than on practices incompatible with EU law and human rights commitments (HRW Statement).