UN Expert Warns Against Migration Control, Calls for Accountability and Transparency in Border Governance

A United Nations expert has issued a stark warning to States over the growing trend of "externalising" migration control, describing it as a practice that shifts responsibility for migrant protection to third countries and exposes people on the move to serious human rights abuses.

In his latest report to the UN General Assembly, Gehard Madi, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, called on governments to end cooperation arrangements that undermine their international human rights obligations. He emphasized that externalisation has become a defining feature of modern migration, asylum, and border governance, with alarming humanitarian consequences.

The Rise of Externalisation in Migration Governance

The report highlights that many States—particularly in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia-Pacific—are increasingly relying on measures designed to prevent migrants and asylum seekers from reaching their borders. These include offshore asylum processing centres, border interception operations, return hubs, and agreements with third countries to manage migration flows.

According to Madi, such arrangements often prioritize deterrence over protection, resulting in grave risks to human life and dignity. "These practices are primarily designed to shift responsibility for migrants to other States, many of which lack the capacity or political will to ensure their safety and welfare," he said.

The Special Rapporteur noted that externalisation frequently operates alongside the securitisation and criminalisation of migration, where humanitarian actors face restrictions or criminal charges for providing aid to migrants. This trend, he warned, has created "zones of legal ambiguity" where accountability is diluted and human rights violations go unpunished.

Ten Fundamental Rights at Risk

Madi's report identifies ten human rights and prohibitions most endangered by externalisation measures. These include:

• The right to leave any country, including one's own;

• The prohibition of refoulement (forcible return to danger);

• The prohibition of collective expulsion;

• The prohibition of torture and ill-treatment;

• The prohibition of arbitrary detention;

• The prohibition of enforced disappearance and racial discrimination;

• The right to life;

• The right to due process and effective remedy; and

• The protection of socio-economic rights, including access to healthcare, housing, and education.

"These are not abstract principles," Madi said. "They are the very foundation of international human rights law, and their violation has devastating consequences for real people—men, women, and children fleeing persecution, poverty, and conflict."

The Accountability Gap

A key concern raised by the Special Rapporteur is the lack of transparency and accountability surrounding migration cooperation agreements. Many such arrangements, he said, are unpublished, vaguely worded, or deliberately kept outside formal treaty frameworks, rendering them inaccessible to the public and immune from democratic scrutiny.

He urged States to adopt concrete safeguards, including:

• Ex ante and periodic human rights impact assessments;

• Independent monitoring mechanisms;

• Accessible complaint procedures for affected migrants; and

• Public disclosure of the content and scope of all migration cooperation deals.

Without these measures, Madi warned, externalisation risks creating a system of "outsourced illegality," where States benefit from migration control without bearing responsibility for its human rights impacts.

Extraterritorial Jurisdiction and State Responsibility

Addressing the issue of legal responsibility, the Special Rapporteur made it clear that States cannot evade international obligations by outsourcing migration enforcement. He reaffirmed that whenever a State exercises power or effective control beyond its borders, it also exercises extraterritorial jurisdiction, and therefore remains accountable under international law.

"International human rights obligations do not stop at the border," he said. "A State's duty to protect human rights travels with its power—whether exercised through its own agents, contractors, or partner governments."

The Way Forward: Human Rights-Centered Migration Cooperation

The UN expert urged all governments to align migration cooperation frameworks with international human rights standards, emphasizing that policies should prioritize dignity, safety, and legality rather than deterrence and exclusion.

He recommended that States work collaboratively through the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) to create migration pathways that respect human rights and promote equitable burden-sharing.

Continued UN Monitoring and Future Review

Gehard Madi confirmed that his office will continue to monitor developments and assess the human rights implications of emerging migration cooperation agreements. His next comprehensive review will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2026, focusing on accountability and remedies for victims of rights violations linked to externalisation practices.

"The global community faces a moral and legal test," Madi concluded. "States must not build walls of responsibility around themselves. Migration governance must be grounded in justice, transparency, and the universal respect for human dignity."