Readmission agreements and respect for human rights in Third Countries : Review and prospects for the European Parliament

Readmission agreements have been used for a long time as a key means of combating illegal immigration, whether at bilateral, intergovernmental or Community level. To date, six agreements have been signed between the European Community and its Member States, for the one part, and third countries, for the other part. Several questions arise when we consider and analyse the development of European readmission policy and the negotiation and implementation of the agreements; they relate in particular to respect for fundamental rights, the implications and consequences of the process of negotiating such agreements, and institutional issues in the context of formulating that policy...