Save the Children has called for the European Union to abandon plans for deportation centres in countries outside the bloc, warning that the proposed facilities could expose children to serious violations of their rights.
The child protection organisation said so-called return centres in third countries could become places of insecurity, particularly in countries that already lack adequate basic services. Florian Westphal, managing director of Save the Children in Germany, warned that children held in such facilities could face degrading conditions resulting from insufficient healthcare, inadequate child protection and limited access to education.
“The planned return centres in third countries are places of insecurity and carry the risk of massive violations of children’s rights,” Westphal said.
Germany is currently holding talks with Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece on establishing so-called Return Hubs, particularly in African countries. The participating states have referred to themselves as “the implementers” as they pursue arrangements with potential host countries.
The plans are due to be discussed at a press conference in Copenhagen, where German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and his counterparts from the participating EU countries are expected to report on the initiative. The meeting is intended to begin what the countries describe as the “final preparatory phase”. EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs Magnus Brunner is also due to attend.
The proposed deportation centres are provided for under the EU’s return regulation. Save the Children has highlighted a provision under which only unaccompanied minors would be exempt from being transferred to such centres.
That means other children could potentially be transferred alongside their families, according to the organisation. Save the Children argues that this creates a particular concern because children could be placed in facilities located in countries where essential services and safeguards may already be inadequate.
The debate has also focused on Rwanda, where representatives of the participating EU states recently held discussions with government officials about establishing deportation centres.
One location under consideration is the transit centre in Gashora, around 60 kilometres from Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. Since 2019, the centre has accommodated migrants stranded in Libya while their asylum applications were being processed.
Rwanda has previously been at the centre of an international dispute over arrangements to receive migrants from Europe. In 2022, the country reached an agreement with the then Conservative British government led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to accept undocumented migrants who had crossed the English Channel to Britain.
The agreement was subsequently abandoned by the Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer in 2024. Britain’s Supreme Court had previously ruled the arrangement illegal.
The experience has added a significant precedent to the current European discussions as Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece explore possible arrangements for return centres outside the EU.
For Save the Children, however, the central concern is the effect such policies could have on children accompanying their families. The organisation argues that the proposed system risks placing children in environments where healthcare, protection and education cannot be adequately guaranteed.
As EU governments move towards what they describe as the final preparatory stage, the dispute is therefore increasingly centred not only on migration management, but also on the safeguards that would apply to children transferred beyond EU territory.
