EU plans to return African migrants home with 'laissez passer' travel documents

‘Unheard-of’ idea discussed as 14 people die off coast of Turkey.

The European Union has come up with a plan to help reduce the number of migrants: expel some who don’t qualify for asylum and give them EU papers to fly to Africa, calling on African countries to let them travel onwards to their home.

A top African Union official called the idea “unheard-of” and migration experts said it represents a sign of desperation.

At the very least, it will make for heated discussions at a migration summit in Malta.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, almost 800,000 people have entered Europe by sea this year. The EU predicts 3m more could arrive by 2017.

The talks came as Sweden said it will introduce temporary border controls to stem the flow of migrants.

The EU-Africa summit likely won’t address the root causes of the migration crisis, says Matteo Garavoglia: https://t.co/ZQ7KtGAVbA

— The Brookings Institution (@BrookingsInst) November 11, 2015

The border controls will be introduced today and last initially for 10 days until November 21, interior minister Anders Ygeman said.

Sweden said migration authorities are overstretched and nearly 200,000 asylum-seekers are expected this year. Relative to population size, Sweden has 9.7m people, no other EU country comes close.

In another sign of desperation, Slovenia began erecting a razor-wire fence along its border with Croatia to stop asylum-seekers from overwhelming the area.

European nations are pressing African leaders to take back thousands of people refused asylum.

The special “laissez passer” travel documents for Africans without ID are aimed at easing their return back to countries they left or travelled through.

In essence, the pass means the EU would decide where a person without a passport has come from in Africa, tantamount to the EU designating the nationality of someone on behalf of his home country.

“It is another form of taking short cuts on procedures,” said Iverna McGowan, acting director of Amnesty International’s EU office.

“People returned to countries of transit risk being faced with arbitrary detention and having their rights to asylum and to work violated.”

The measure is one of a number that the EU want their African counterparts to accept to speed the return home of migrants.

The two-day summit in Valletta will also discuss longer-term measures to fight poverty, climate change and conflict, the main causes of people leaving Africa in the first place.

In other developments, 14 migrants, including seven children, drowned early Wednesday when their boat sank off the coast of Turkey, the state-run news agency reported. Divers are still searching the area.