The European Union appears to be using its problematic deal with Turkey as a global model in its desperate efforts to curb migration. Earlier this year, the EU Commission promised the regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan billions in aid as well as visa-free access for Turks to Europe in exchange for measures to stop a massive flow of refugees from the Middle East. Now it has proposed similar compacts with countries in Africa, potentially offering 62 billion euros of trade and aid incentives to nations that assist in preventing African migrants from making the treacherous journey to Europe, or that take them back. The carrots come with sticks: EU officials say there will be “consequences for those who do not cooperate.”
The commission has listed 16 priority nations; 13 are in Africa. In the case of democratic, relatively free nations such as Nigeria and Senegal, the collaboration could benefit both sides. But as with the repressive Erdogan regime, EU leaders also appear ready to cut deals with authoritarians in countries such as Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Such partnerships risk incentivizing the very repression that causes people to flee across the Mediterranean.
EU statements assure that the pacts will be in “full respect of our humanitarian and human rights obligations.” But Europe proposes to fund countries that routinely flout human rights norms. Under international law, people have a right to seek asylum in other countries. But the EU proposal would give authoritarian governments financial incentives to use force to keep people from leaving or transiting their countries.
The commission’s proposal to directly assist countries with border security, for example, would hardly be constructive in Eritrea, which has a “shoot to kill” policy for citizens trying to leave the country and was recently the subject of a scathing U.N. report on human rights. The same is true for Sudan, which in May began cracking down on migrants, rounding up 900 Eritreans in Khartoum and deporting them back to Eritrea.
The EU has said that it will not directly fund government structures in such countries, but will employ nongovernmental organizations and other civil society groups. But this also seems to ignore reality: Intense repression in Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia has included harsh crackdowns on local and international NGOs. Eritrea has banned local NGOs almost entirely, and Ethiopia’s draconian laws severely restrict international funding. Without a strategy to press such countries to make space for civil society, EU money could not reach genuinely independent organizations.
EU nations cannot ignore their international obligations on resettlement and their commitments to support refugees in poorer nations. They should continue to pursue realistic efforts to find safe, legal means of allowing refugees and migrants to integrate into member states. And Europe cannot allow refugees and migrants to become bargaining chips for repressive leaders.
