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On 21 June, 2012, Commissioner Cecilia Malmström met the Turkish ambassador in Brussels to officially initial – in other words preliminarily agree on – a readmission agreement between the European Union (EU) and Turkey. Once the signature and ratification steps are completed, the agreement will allow both parties to return foreign nationals irregularly entering and/or residing on their territories.
In exchange for signing the readmission agreement, the EU has opened up the way for visa liberalisation for Turkish nationals. The conditions under which visa liberalization would finally happen and its timing are still unclear, at the moment constituting a main delay for the ratification of the agreement. However, it is obvious that the prospect of visa free travel to the EU provides a significant incentive for Turkey to sign the readmission agreement.
In this policy brief, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) details how the readmission agreement due to be concluded between the EU and Turkey risks failing to respect the rights of regular and irregular migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. The EMHRN thus calls on all parties to safeguard these rights in practice.
EU-led readmission agreements illustrate the European trend on migration and asylum; a trend driven by the will to strengthen external borders in order to sustain internal free movement within. Even if readmission agreements as such are nothing new and have been used as migration control tools by states for decades, what is different about EU-led agreements is that it is now a supranational body that is politically responsible for negotiating these agreements, while EU Member States are responsible for the practical implementation of the readmission procedure. In terms of accountability, the watering down of responsibilities between different actors makes monitoring and effective remedies against abuses potentially difficult to address.
Despite the statement by Malmström that under the agreement, returning foreign nationals to their country of origin will be carried out “in full respect of international law and fundamental rights, ”1 the implementation of previous agreements between the EU and member states and third countries has so far resulted in substantial violations of the rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, on both the European side and the one of the contracting party.