Amnesty strongly criticizes EU Parliament vote on ‘safe country’ asylum rules

By Necva Tastan Sevinc

ISTANBUL (AA) - Amnesty International sharply criticized the European Parliament’s approval of changes to EU asylum rules, warning that the move weakens the bloc’s commitment to refugee protection.

Responding to the vote, Olivia Sundberg Diez, Amnesty’s EU Advocate on Migration and Asylum, said Tuesday that the decision marked “a very dark day for human rights in the EU.”

“With this vote the European Parliament is capitulating to a decades-long campaign to strip away human rights, starting with the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants,” she said, describing the shift as an assault on the EU’s foundational principles.

On Feb. 10, lawmakers endorsed amendments to the “safe third country” concept under the EU Asylum Procedures Regulation and approved the creation of an EU-wide list of “safe countries of origin.”

Under the revised framework, member states may reject asylum applications as inadmissible without assessing their substance and transfer applicants to countries where they may have no meaningful link or may only have transited. The changes also eliminate the automatic suspensive effect of appeals in such cases, allowing deportations to proceed while legal challenges are pending.

Amnesty warned that asylum seekers could have their claims dismissed without a comprehensive review and be sent to countries “where they have never even set foot.”

The newly adopted EU-wide list of safe countries of origin includes Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco, and Tunisia, along with EU accession candidate countries, subject to certain exceptions. Nationals from these countries will be presumed not to require international protection and will be processed under accelerated procedures.

Sundberg Diez said the measures erode individualized assessments of asylum claims, risk denying protection to those in need, and open the door to offshore processing arrangements with third countries.