EU Return Hubs in Rwanda and Uganda Risk Severe Rights Abuses, Amnesty Warns

Amnesty International warns that EU plans for migrant return hubs in Uganda and Rwanda risk severe rights abuses. Five European Union member states will meet on 4 September to discuss plans for migrant deportation centers in third countries. Amnesty International has condemned the proposals, stating they risk creating cruel black holes for human rights.

Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International's European Institutions Office, issued the warning ahead of the meeting involving Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands. She said the hubs, by design, carry a risk of grave violations. She urged governments to reject the plans outright.

Focus on Uganda and Rwanda

Discussions are reportedly focusing on Uganda and Rwanda, two countries with what Amnesty describes as appalling human rights records. This focus persists despite ongoing conflict and political instability in the Great Lakes Region. Reports indicate a planned center in Uganda could become operational in 2027 with a capacity for up to 10,000 people.

Amnesty International has documented extensive rights violations in both potential host nations. In Uganda, these include repression, unlawful detention, deportations, and an extreme anti-LGBTQ+ law that criminalizes consensual same-sex acts and mandates the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality.

Regarding Rwanda, the organization notes the government's control over the M23 armed group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has perpetrated serious abuses potentially amounting to war crimes. In 2023, the UK Supreme Court ruled Rwanda was not a safe third country for the UK to forcibly transfer asylum seekers, citing the country's record of repression, restrictions on freedoms, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture.

Inherent Rights Violations

The organization asserts that return hubs cannot be implemented in a human rights-compliant manner. The background risk involves automatic and arbitrary detention, refoulement (forced return to persecution), torture and ill-treatment, and restrictions on access to due process and effective remedies.

These negotiations form part of the EU's broader migration diplomacy approach. Amnesty criticizes this as an attempt to shirk European migration responsibilities. It shifts the burden onto Global South countries that, the group argues, are already hosting more refugees with fewer resources. The plans are based on deep power asymmetries between the EU and the prospective host nations.

Legal and Political Context

The proposed EU Return Regulation, which has not yet been formally adopted, would provide the legal basis for such return hubs. It states that agreements may only be reached with countries where international human rights standards and principles are respected. Amnesty's documentation suggests both Uganda and Rwanda fail to meet this prerequisite.

In September 2025, the European Parliament called on the European Commission to review assistance, including financial aid, to Rwandan public institutions involved in arbitrary detentions, torture, or unfair trials.

Geddie linked the policy drive to rising xenophobia in Europe. She referenced shameful chants to send them back heard in the European Parliament in June. Governments across the political spectrum, she argued, are now willing to pursue an agenda to increase deportations at seemingly any cost. Amnesty International vows to continue exposing the harms and illegalities of these policies and to resist them.