Euromed Rights Research: the Obsession on Return Policies in the Mediterranean Region
EuroMed Rights research: The Obsession on return policies in the Mediterranean Region Terms of reference for research consultancy EuroMed Rights is seeking to recruit 1 research consultant to carry out a mapping study on EU return policies in the Euro-Mediterranean region. 1. Project description and background In recent years, returns of foreign nationals, including those seeking protection, have emerged as the main focus of both EU and non-EU countries, who have increasingly shaped their migration and asylum policies accordingly and allocated funding to facilitate returns. This chapter of the research will analyse the EU’s and Member States’ migration and asylum policies which have a disproportionate focus on returns, i.e. the so-called ‘EU obsession’. Attempts to increase the number of returns and deportations, from EU Member States to countries of origin or transit, were made, for instance, by intensifying the external dimension of migration policies, through increased readmission agreements and bilateral cooperation with third countries. Also, the role and power of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), the European body in charge of return operations, have been significantly strengthened, and return policies are also one of the main pillars of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The recast of the Return Directive will also be taken into consideration. All these attempts translate into systematic violations of fundamental rights, at the expenses of a human-rights based migration and asylum system which truly protects people’s rights. For example, numerous cases of unlawful pushbacks, in violation of the principle of non-refoulement as enshrined in EU and international law, occurred and have intensified all across the Euro-Mediterranean region, with examples from the Central Mediterranean, Croatia and the Balkan routes and the Greek- Turkish border, to name but a few.
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