The externalisation of migration and asylum management by the EU to less prosperous states in an attempt to prevent third country nationals from reaching their borders, raises numerous ethical, legal and operational questions. Externalisation agreements exacerbate the vulnerabilities of displaced people in search for safety, as they force them to resort to smuggling or trafficking rings, while they also make them more susceptible to violence and other systematic human rights abuses like extortion, torture and rape.

Externalisation can take different forms ranging from information campaigns aimed at discouraging people from taking the perilous trip to Europe to the interception of boats, migrant detention and offshore asylum processing, while it also involves the flow of money, aid, intelligence, vessels, equipment and expertise to often authoritarian regimes in exchange for their support in keeping people on the move from reaching European soil, opening that way the door to a series of serious political risks that puts in jeopardy the very fabric of the European Union and the principles it stands for. Despite that, “embedding migration in international partnerships” was still one of the four main pillars of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum (2024).

At Heinrich Böll Foundation we are committed to human security, and as such this in-progress dossier will provide the space for this timely discussion on the intersection between human rights and foreign & security policy and its expression in terms of migration policies globally.