A/HRC/62/35 intergovernmental organizations as well as private sector actors, may contribute to the implementation of activities carrying heightened human rights risks, including where funding structures create adverse incentives.50 21. In his report to the General Assembly on the externalization of migration governance and its effect on the human rights of migrants,51 the Special Rapporteur identified 10 key rights at risk of violation, namely: the right to leave any country, including one’s own; the prohibition of refoulement, collective expulsion, arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, and racial discrimination; the right to life, due process and an effective remedy; and economic and social rights.52 22. The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned by recent reports of violations of the principle of non-refoulement. Reports indicate that migrants removed from the United States to third countries pursuant to recent agreements have been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment.53 Some individuals transferred to El Salvador have reportedly been subjected to enforced disappearance and have been denied access to family members and legal counsel. 54 Reports also indicate violations of the prohibition of indirect (chain) refoulement. Receiving States subsequently returned individuals to their countries of origin, exposing them to a risk of irreparable harm. 55 Third States reportedly provide assurances against persecution, torture or onward refoulement, but such assurances do not absolve States of their non-refoulement obligations and have proven ineffective in practice. Blanket diplomatic assurances are particularly deficient, as they do not permit the required individualized risk assessment and are difficult to monitor in practice. Ongoing violations of migrants’ rights in Libya56 and Tunisia57 further suggest that migration cooperation aimed at preventing arrivals to the European Union (see paras. 9 and 10 above) risks resulting in violations of the principle of non-refoulement. 23. Beyond removals to third States and extraterritorial asylum processing, detention may also result from externalization measures aimed at preventing arrivals (see para. 9 above). For instance, in the framework of the 2024 arrangement between Mauritania and the European Union, 58 two European Union-supported transit centres in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou were transferred to the Mauritanian authorities in October 2025, potentially entrenching detention practices at the domestic level. 59 Evidence from other contexts highlights the serious risks inherent in the use of detention to prevent migrants from reaching externalizing States. In Libya, migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees are routinely subjected to arbitrary detention in inhuman conditions, where they face torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence, forced labour and extortion.60 24. In addition to the 10 human rights at heightened risk of violation in the context of externalization (see para. 21 above), the Special Rapporteur highlights three further rights. First, externalization practices may facilitate forced labour and practices amounting to 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 8 Submissions from K. Allinson, Human Rights Advocates and the Kennedy Human Rights Center. A/80/302. See also the submission from Algeria. See USA 25/2025, VEN 3/2025 and SLV 6/2025 and the replies thereto; the amicus brief available at https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/migration/2025-07-31-amicus-brief-srsno-mc-578-25-el-salvador.pdf, paras. 9.2 and 15; and the submission from Global Detention Project. Amicus brief, paras. 15 and 22.5; and submission from Human Rights First. See https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/23/us/africa-expulsion-deals-flout-rights; and Cristiano d’Orsi, “The United States’ attempt to deport third country nationals to Africa: is this a mutually beneficial situation?”, Externalizing Asylum (15 April 2026). See also USA 42/2025 and HND 7/2025. UNSMIL and OHCHR, Business as Usual: Human Rights Violations and Abuses against Migrants, Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in Libya. See TUN 2/2026, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde30/0180/2025/en/ and https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/26/shadow-report-on-the-implementation-of-the-african-charteron-human-and-peoples. A/80/302, para. 11. See A/HRC/62/35/Add.1. UNSMIL and OHCHR, Business as Usual: Human Rights Violations and Abuses against Migrants, Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in Libya. GE.26-06322

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