NEW YORK - States must end cooperation arrangements that shift responsibility for migrant governance to third States, a UN expert said today, warning that such practices expose migrants to serious human rights violations.
"Externalisation has become a defining feature of migration, asylum, and border governance," said Gehard Madi, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants. "Its increasing prevalence and the significant human rights risks it entails call for a collective reflection."
In his latest report to the UN General Assembly, Madi examines how States increasingly rely on measures that prevent migrants from arriving, outsource asylum processing, or transfer migrants to third countries.
"These practices are primarily designed to shift responsibility for migrants to other States, many of which lack the capacity or the political will to ensure their protection and well-being," the Special Rapporteur said.
He warned that externalisation measures, such as support to border control in third countries, interceptions and pushbacks, offshore asylum procedures, or the establishment of return hubs, are often implemented alongside the securitisation and criminalisation of migration, further constraining civil society and humanitarian actors assisting people on the move.
Madi identifies 10 human rights and prohibitions most at risk in the context of externalisation, such as the right to leave any country, the prohibition of refoulement, collective expulsion, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and racial discrimination, the right to life, due process and effective remedy, and socio-economic rights.
A recurring concern, the expert said, is the lack of transparency and accountability surrounding externalisation arrangements.
"Many agreements are unpublished or presented in vague terms, making them inaccessible to the public and beyond the reach of parliamentary scrutiny," he said. The report calls for concrete measures to enhance transparency and accountability, including ex ante and periodic human rights impact assessments, human rights monitoring mechanisms, and accessible complaint procedures for affected migrants.
The Special Rapporteur highlighted challenges in determining legal responsibility for human rights violations in the context of externalisation.
"However, States cannot evade their international obligations by outsourcing migration control," he said. "Whenever a State exercises power or effective control beyond its territory, it also exercises extraterritorial jurisdiction."
"States must ensure that all migration cooperation upholds the human rights of migrants," the expert said.
The Special Rapporteur will continue to monitor developments and assess the human rights impact of new cooperation agreements in his upcoming report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2026.
