PBI-Colombia tells DW that Colombia is unsafe for rights defenders as European Commission lists Colombia as a “safe country”
Photo: The western face of the European Parliament towards the Place du Luxembourg in Brussels, Belgium.
The Bonn, Germany-based news agency Deutsche Welle (DW) reports on Colombian human rights defender Claudia Álvarez who has been waiting for 30 months for asylum in Spain. Álvarez says: “I cannot return to Colombia; it is not a safe country.”
The article continues with the Peace Brigades International’s (PBI) Colombia representative in Europe telling DW: “Colombia continues to be an extremely dangerous and unsafe country for those who defend rights, territory, the environment.”
The PBI representative also tells DW: “In addition to these victimizing events, there are serious humanitarian crises in several regions of the country, in which legal and illegal armed actors dispute territorial control, causing massacres.”
The article further reports: “In 2024, of the 51,529 asylum requests from Colombians in European Union (EU) territory, 74% were submitted in Spain, 12% in Germany, 7% in Italy, 3% in France and 2% in Belgium.”
DW reporter Myrrh Banchon comments: “It is striking that, although none of these countries still considers Colombia a ‘safe country’, only less than five percent of asylum applications have been accepted. Most of them (20 percent) in Spain; none in Germany.”
The article then cautions: “The fact that the European Commission proposes to include Colombia in the list of ‘safe countries’ increases their fears.”
EU considers Colombia a “safe country”
On April 16, 2025, Politico.eu reported: “The European Union now considers seven countries to be safe for migrants to return to and will accelerate the asylum application process for those countries’ nationals… This likely means asylum applications will not be approved from those countries now that the EU has designated Kosovo, Colombia, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Bangladesh and India as ‘safe’.”
Netherlands, Italy push on migration
The Politico.eu article also explains: “The move comes after EU capitals, led by Poland, urged the Commission in 2024 to draw up new guidelines on migration to facilitate deportations amid growing political pressure from right-wing and far-right parties. The determination to designate the seven countries as safe was made on the basis of reports by the EU’s foreign affairs branch, EU staff located in those countries, civil society organizations and media reports, plus other sources of information…”
France 24 adds: “Led by hawks including Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, EU leaders called in October 2024 for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up returns and for the commission to assess ‘innovative’ ways to counter irregular migration.”
Approval process to come
France 24 reports: “The plan has to be approved by the European Parliament and member states before it can enter into force.”
Euractiv adds: “The list [of seven countries] is presented as an amendment to the EU’s asylum procedure regulation, part of the Migration Pact approved last year, and is expected to take effect in [June] 2026. It will apply across the bloc, though member states may still expand their national designations. “
It further notes: “The proposal [on safe countries] will now follow the ordinary legislative procedure, undergoing scrutiny by both the Council and the European Parliament, followed by interinstitutional negotiations. The discussions in the Council are set to kick off on 24 April within the Asylum Working Group, Euractiv has learned.”
We continue to follow this.
Note: The Government of Canada says: “To date, the United States is the only country that is designated as a safe third country by Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.” This means that a Colombian who enters Canada via the United States seeking refugee status can be returned to the United States.
In 2019, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada received 9,298 refugee claims from Mexico (5,634 claims), Colombia (3,197), Honduras (300) and Guatemala (167). A total of 1,699 of those applications (about 18%) were accepted. In 2020 alone, 125 land and environmental rights defenders were killed in just these four countries.
Unlike Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland, Canada does not have a temporary relocation program for human rights defenders in urgent need.
The full Deutsche Welle article by Myrrh Banchon can be read at: Asilo de colombianos: “la única garantía es salir del país”.
PBI: “The dignity of people is beyond any border”
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