Accelerated removals: the human cost of EU deportation policies

Abstract

As European countries implement policies of ‘accelerated removal’, the legal rights of migrants and ‘failed’ asylum seekers are being eroded and force is being used more often in their deportations. Certain groups, including the Roma, unaccompanied children, the elderly and ill as well as asylum seekers from many African countries, are being targeted for removal as readmission agreements are negotiated, and many deportations now take place to Afghanistan and Iraq — regarded as safe countries.