A/80/302 arrangements raise serious issues with regard to the principle of non-refoulement, the prohibition of arbitrary detention and due process guarantees. III. Human rights of migrants and refugees affected by externalization 23. Externalization measures carry a high risk of human rights violations, because the primary aim of externalizing States is to shift responsibility for migrants and refugees to other States. At the same time, third States often lack the capacity or the political will to ensure the protection and well-being of migrants and refugees subjected to externalization. Violations of migrants’ and refugees’ human rights, in particular migrants and refugees subjected to externalization measures, are sometimes overlooked or tolerated by the externalizing States. 56 The overall lack of transparency and independent oversight further compounds the risk of abuse. Externalization measures often create or exacerbate situations of vulnerability for migrants. In the present section, the Special Rapporteur identifies the human rights most at risk of violation in the context of externalization measures. 57 A. Right to leave any country, including one’s own 24. Article 12 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right of everyone to leave any country, including their own. Pullbacks, by their very nature, prevent migrants and refugees from exercising their right to leave any country or territory. 58 In addition to pullbacks, any measure that prevents departure from the third State, including of the third State’s nationals, interferes with that right. Those measures include interceptions, criminalization of exit from the country or detention to prevent emigration. 59 B. Prohibition of refoulement 25. Under international human rights law, the principle of non-refoulement is the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of returning any person to a situation in which they face a real risk of irreparable harm, including death, torture, ill-treatment and persecution. Refoulement is explicitly prohibited in the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (art. 3) and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance(art. 16), and it is inferred under several human rights conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It has also attained the status of customary international law. The principle of non-refoulement also prohibits indirect (chain) refoulement, whereby a third State further returns a person to a situation of risk, whether in the person’s country of origin or another country. 26. Externalization measures create an ample risk of direct and chain refoulement. 60 In the absence of an individualized risk assessment for each person, return decisions taken on the basis of readmission agreements can amount to collective expulsion, __________________ 56 57 58 59 60 25-12609 Communication OTH 129/2024 and the reply thereto. Other rights include the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution, the right to family and private life, privacy and data protection, and the best interests of the child. A/HRC/37/50, para. 55. Submission by Emilie McDonnel. A/HRC/37/50, para. 41. With regard to the risk of onward removal, see communication ITA 4/2025 and the reply thereto. 11/23