A/HRC/50/31 No. 21.325 on Migration and Foreigners, which entered into force in February 2022, has introduced the concept of immediate border returns (“reconducción o devolución inmediata en frontera”) into national law,77 specifically targeting migrants who enter Chilean territory irregularly.78 Removals are henceforth to be accompanied by a prohibition on re-entry of at least six months. In practice, as Chile has not received formal agreement on the readmission of these migrants by its neighbours, migrants who are expelled in this way will face increased legal uncertainty and the risk of further human rights violations in the territories to which they are expelled. 46. In some American countries, the regularization of Venezuelan migrants has gained momentum now that temporary measures adopted during the health emergency are expiring. In May 2021, the Government of Colombia began granting 10-year temporary protection status to the 1.7 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants living in the country. 79 In 2021, the Dominican Republic regularized the stay of over 50,000 Venezuelan nationals, representing approximately half of those arriving from that crisis-torn country in recent years.80 Similarly, the President of Ecuador has announced plans to begin the regularization process for Venezuelans, which could provide a stable legal status for over 450,000 migrants residing in the country.81 3. Safe third country concepts and practices, and readmission agreements at land borders and at sea 47. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that States are entering into bilateral and multilateral agreements to provide joint responses to displacement and migration-related challenges. However, he is concerned that some States also enable the designation of safe third countries in relation to asylum seekers, to variously expedite admissibility, asylum, and return procedures, instead of providing a transparent, human rights-based response. Such practices are sometimes used as a strategy to bypass human rights obligations or to rubberstamp migrant removals without individual safeguards.82 The Special Rapporteur notes with concern that recent initiatives to expand the use of the safe third country concept have resulted in violations of the prohibition of collective expulsions and the principle of non-refoulement, and have led to limitations in accessing fair and efficient asylum and other protectionoriented procedures. As provided in article 38 of Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013, a country can only be designated as a safe third country when basic conditions relating to the safety and protection of migrants in the country, as well as conditions relating to the applicant, are fulfilled. The Special Rapporteur stresses that the determination of a safe third country should be on a case-by-case basis, allowing an individualized assessment of whether the third country concerned is safe for a particular applicant, and applicants should have the opportunity to challenge whether or not the country is safe for them to be returned to in their particular circumstances.83 48. A readmission agreement and protocol between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Pakistan came into force on 23 July 2021, which allows the deportation of nationals of Pakistan, who make up nearly a quarter of all migrants and asylum seekers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and allows their automatic readmission in Pakistan without an individualized assessment.84 The Special Rapporteur stresses that any return under this agreement should be undertaken with necessary safeguards. 49. In March 2021, the Constitutional Court of Croatia ruled that the assessment of a country as “safe” in relation to asylum applicants should not only rely on normative frameworks and statistical data, but also take into account “relevant reports by bodies concerned with the protection of refugees and NGOs in order to determine the real treatment 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 See submission by Chile. See also Law No. 21.325, art. 131, available at: https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=1158549. See submissions by Chile and Franciscans International (No. 1). A/76/257, para. 63. See joint submission by CEDESO and OBMICA. See https://presidenciave.com/internacional/presidente-de-ecuador-guillermo-lasso-anuncio-planpara-regularizar-a-450-000-venezolanos/. A/HRC/47/30, paras. 63–66. See UNHCR, “Legal Considerations regarding access to protection and a connection between the refugee and the third country in the context of return or transfer to safe third countries”, April 2018. See submission No. 1 by Save the Children. 11