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Migration partnerships

The EU’s €30m to Senegal: exporting carceral migration “management” /// “We are not there yet!” says Danish Institute for Human Rights presentation /// Council emphasises importance of migration cooperation with southern Mediterranean states /// UK and Italian ministers double down on “upstream drivers of migration"

The EU’s €30m to Senegal: exporting carceral migration “management”

Elsewhere in this bulletin it has been noted that the EU would like step up cooperation with Senegal on border control and deportations. But as researcher Leonie Jegen has written for Statewatch, there is already considerable cooperation as it is. Key takeaways from Jegen’s analysis:

• In October 2024 the EU announced it would provide €30 million from its aid budget to Senegal;
• the funding focuses on stepping up the fight against migrant smuggling: measures to enhance border surveillance and control, maritime interception, and reception/detention infrastructure;
• funding priorities align with some of those supported by the Senegalese government elected in April 2024, but also fit neatly into longer-term dynamics of cooperation with the EU and other external actors.
• Ultimately, the plans can be seen as contributing to a new era of carceral EU migration “management” in West Africa.

Read the full article on the Statewatch site here.

“We are not there yet!” says Danish Institute for Human Rights presentation

A presentation from the Danish Institute for Human Rights to the External Aspects of Asylum and Migration Working Party on 10 September 2025 explores how human rights can be embedded in the EU’s migration projects, with a particular view to externalisation.

The presentation (pdf) broadly re-treads the “human rights-based approach” (HRBA) concept which has increasingly featured in EU discussion in recent months. It explores in a vague fashion the benefits and challenges of embedding human rights protections into the EU’s agenda, noting that this is a reputational issue for Europe and also that there are “weak institutional grounds [and a] lack of resources” in partner countries.

The presentation also briefly touches on the Institute’s ‘MediRights’ programme, funded by the Danish government and implemented by the IOM, UNHCR, ICMPD and the EUAA, which appears to be active in Tunisia and Egypt. The description for this project notes that human rights violations can be a push factor for migration, and warns that poor migration governance can contribute to those push factors anew.

The presentation at one point states the obvious: the EU is “not there yet” when it comes to embedding human rights protections in its migration governance. 

Council emphasises importance of migration cooperation with southern Mediterranean states

In a set of conclusions on the European Commission's recently-published 'Pact for the Mediterranean', the EU's Foreign Affairs Council emphasised the importance of cooperation on migration. The conclusions also set out the Council's preferred methods for implementing the Pact:

"Full use will also be made of established channels, notably Association Agreements and Partnership Priorities, which remain the fundamental legal, institutional and political framework of engagement and which should be taken into account in the implementation of the Pact."

The conclusions emphasise ‘whole of route’ approaches to migration, “with a view to prevent irregular migration and break smugglers’ business”, as well as securing readmissions cooperation with Mediterranean partners.

UK and Italian ministers double down on “upstream drivers of migration"

In a joint statement, the foreign and defence ministers of both countries “reaffirmed” their commitment to reducing irregular migration to their territories, particularly addressing the “upstream drivers of migration”, and making note as well of the need to ‘tackle hybrid threats’. The UK noted its recent contribution of £5.75m (€6.5m) to the Rome Process, a programme spearheaded by Giorgia Meloni to reduce irregular migration.

Established in 2023, involving around 20 partner countries and a dozen multilateral organisations, and loosely tied to the EU-Tunisia deal, the Rome Process is an explicitly externalisation-focussed project, with an emphasis on “concerted efforts based on mutual consent in countries at all stages of key mixed movements routes”, i.e. a ‘whole of route’ approach.

In response to a request on that £5.75m and the UK’s involvement in the Rome Process, the UK Foreign Office provided the following information:

• The UK is an active member of the Rome Process and is on the Steering Committee and its three Working Groups (Economic and Development, Migration and Security and Climate);
• The UK’s £5.75m contribution is aimed at funding projects that address irregular migration at its source, with a focus on programmes in the Sahel region that provide protection and economic opportunities to disincentivise migrants from travelling towards Europe. The funds also contribute to a research programme on the root causes of migration in Africa.

A similar request to the UK Ministry of Defence had, at the time of this bulletin, received no reply.