Europe and Refugee Phobia: Third Country Is Not a Solution

By Ayman Okeil

There is a troubling obsession targeting refugees in European countries, specifically, the reckless rush to demonize every refugee or asylum seeker. This obsession began with misleading information propagated by certain Right-wing parties in European nations, which suggested that there is no place for refugees and migrants in these countries.
Gradually, some governments adopted this misleading information, transforming it into hate speech and harmful narratives against a group that has fled their home countries only to escape war, poverty, and destitution. The recent developments are particularly alarming, as these narratives have evolved into actual actions and policies in various European nations.
A recent example highlighting the current trend of rejecting refugees in Europe is the proposal put forth by the Swedish government in September 2024. They proposed offering a grant of up to $30,000 to any immigrant or refugee who agrees to voluntarily return to their country of origin and relinquish their legal residence in Sweden. According to statistics from February 2024, Sweden hosts 258,000 refugees registered with UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Restrictions and deprivation of certain services may compel these individuals to accept this proposal, which is set to be implemented starting in January 2026.
Other plans across European continent increasingly reflect similar sentiments regarding the concept of a “safe third country.” UK government, for instance, planned to resettle its refugees in Rwanda, having concluded an agreement endorsed by three successive British administrations. However, this plan was ultimately rejected by current government led by Keir Starmer. Both European Court of Human Rights and UK Supreme Court deemed the Rwanda plan illegal, asserting that the conditions for a safe country do not exist in Rwanda.
Austria has expressed similar intentions to deport refugees to a third country. In November 2023, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced plans to transfer refugees to a third country, but he has since retreated from even the concept of a safe third country. On March 24, 2024, he called for deportation of Syrian and Afghan refugees back to their home countries, abandoning an agreement that would have relocated them elsewhere.
There are also reports that German government is actively persuading EU countries to adopt agreements for deportation of refugees to third countries. These plans and proposals regarding refugees in European nations are concerning.
However, such initiatives stand in clear violation of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, which most European countries have ratified. They also contradict Article 38 of EU Directive 2013/32, which states that a third country can only be considered safe if it meets fundamental conditions pertaining to the safety and protection of migrants, including refugees. Furthermore, these actions contradict conclusions reached by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, which assert that the designation of a safe third country must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, allowing refugees the opportunity to challenge whether the country to which they might be deported is indeed safe. In the end, we say to Europe that you are fed up with refugees and can no longer bear the burden of their presence in your countries, then do your best to put an end to the wars in the Middle East, Arab region and Africa and stop supplying parties to armed conflicts with weapons and ammunition.