The bloc's plans are part of a larger reform package on migration. The strategy includes smoother legal procedures to deport the rejected migrants and the use of visa restrictions to convince countries to take them back.
Margaritis Schinas says the EU has not done 'particularly well on returns so far'Image: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/picture alliance
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The European Union presented a new strategy on Tuesday to persuade reluctant home countries to take back asylum-seekers the bloc has rejected.
The strategy forms part of a larger reform package on migration, which includes counseling for migrants who arrive without authorization, as well as extolling the benefits of returning home.
The EU also wants to help the migrants reintegrate once they arrive back in their homeland.
Other elements to the plans involve smoother legal and operational procedures to deport them, and the use of development aid or visa restrictions to convince countries to take them back. Territories the migrants may have crossed as part of their journey to Europe may also be convinced to take the asylum-seekers, according to the European Commission.
EU recognizes shortcomings
"It is not a secret that the European Union did not do particularly well on returns so far,'' Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas told reporters.
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And Schinas laid out the EU's new plans to improve upon the bloc's record of ensuring asylum-seekers go back.
"We are building a new ecosystem on returns — increasing cooperation with third countries on readmission, improving our governance framework," tweeted Schinas, who also holds the title of Promoting the European Way of Life at the Commission.
He added: "Europe will remain an asylum destination for those fleeing persecution and war. However, those with no right to stay will have to be returned to their countries of origin. Not doing so undermines the credibility of our system and prevents us from protecting those who need it."
Mali conflict: The Dogon find refuge on ancestral land
As the conflict in central Mali escalated, the Dogon people fled the Mopti region that had been their home for around 700 years. The southward migration took them to their ancestral land of "Mande."
Image: Udo Lucio Borga
A new life in the old land
Like thousands of other Dogon, Isaie Dignau left the region of Bandiagara in central Mali over the insecurity caused by the ongoing conflict. He found refuge with his family in Nana Kenieba, a village some 150 kilometers (93 miles) south east of the capital Bamako. According to Isaie, Dogon griots had predicted this migration to lands once called "Mande" hundreds of years ago.
Image: Udo Lucio Borga
The homecoming prophecy fulfilled
According to legend, the Dogon are originally from "Mande", the region of the Malinke people. Some time between the 11th and 13th centuries, they were forced to leave amid the Islamization of West Africa. After a long migration they settled around the famous Bandiagara clff in what is today the Mopti region. Now, due to the jihadi threat, they are returning home.
Image: Udo Lucio Borga
Mali, an endless conflict
The Dan Na Ambassagou hunters are the main Dogon militia in Mopti. The conflict in Mali began in 2012 and in 2016 it spread in the central part of the country. As tensions among ethnic groups rose, self-defence militias were formed. The intercommunal fighting is caused by lack of fertile lands and water in an area affected by jihadism.
Image: Ugo Lucio Borga
The consequences of conflict
Mali is facing a serious humanitarian crisis in regions already underdeveloped. Food insecurity affects up to 1.3 million people. Some 347,000 people were forced to flee their lands. Many have sought refuge in neighboring countries but most are internally displaced and sheltering in the south of Mali and refugee camps close to urban areas.
Image: Ugo Lucio Borga
The Dogon in Mali's conflict
Many Dogon are directly involved in the conflict. Seidu Doungo fought with the Dan Na Ambassagou in the Koro region. In 2020, he decided to lay down his weapons. His family was threatened by raiding jihadis and he no longer hand a source of income from their land. When Seidu heard about Nana Kenieba, he decided to leave Koro to find peace in "Mande"..
Image: Ugo Lucio Borga
The hospitality of others
The majority ethnic group in Nana Kenieba is Malinke. Segou Keita is the village chief. He has welcomed Dogon who return in accordance with the ancient prophecy. The community supports them financially and includes them in decision-making.
Image: Udo Lucio Borga
Fair distribution of land
Inside the central hut of Nana Kenieba, Isaie Dignau shows some villagers a map where the plots of land are located. Since 2016, around 400 Dogon families, mainly from Mopti, have settled here. Each household received two hectares of land and food.
Image: Udo Lucio Borga
A secular ethnic community
Dogon is a secular ethnic community, where people are free to profess Islam, Christianty and ancestral belief. The village has two mosques and two churches, with corresponding Koranic schools and catechism classes, a sign of a new-found climate of openness.
Image: Udo Lucio Borga
The fear still lives
The peaceful environment of Mande seems far removed from the conflict in Mali. The community lives in fear that the jihadis could arrive and start a conflict. In Nana Kenieba, villagers have organized patrols that keep bandits out for now.
Image: Ugo Lucio Borga
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2015 crisis
The EU has struggled to overhaul its migration policies in the wake of well over 1 million people arriving in Europe without authorization in 2015, most of them asylum-seekers from Syria, overwhelming facilities across the Greek islands and Italy.
Their entry sparked one of Europe's biggest post-war political crises as nations argued over who should take responsibility for the migrants.
Nevertheless, when hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers crossed Germany's borders, Chancellor Angela Merkel promised: "We can do this," as she sought to reassure those who doubted the policy of accepting the newcomers.
The European Commission proposed sweeping new reforms last September, but the divisions have not yet been overcome, even though migrant arrivals have dropped.
The splits among the EU's 27 member states have prompted the bloc to come up with Tuesday's proposals.
The forgotten refugee crisis
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Hard-line policy criticized
But not everyone was impressed with the EU's new strategy.
Catherine Woollard, director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), said that while generally voluntary returns were preferable to forced relocations, the EU focused disproportionately on sending people back.
"Asylum decision-making in Europe remains a lottery, with wildly divergent protection rates across the EU. In addition, flight from violence is still not well handled by asylum-systems," she told news agency DPA.
"This means that people are receiving rejections when they have protection needs and when it is not safe for them to be returned. Member states are returning people to places that are not safe."
