Thank you Mr. President,
 
The Kingdom of the Netherlands thanks the Special Rapporteur for his detailed and critical report. We take its findings seriously and share his assessment that externalization can entail serious risks. We also agree on the need for rigorous safeguards, independent monitoring, and accountability.

We actively pursue cooperation with third countries but have not concluded any externalization agreement yet. Externalization should not aim to shift or dilute responsibility, however it may be an instrument for sharing responsibility, over what is fundamentally a cross-national matter: potentially supplementing migration management frameworks and the system as a whole. Through this, migrants’ rights and dignity must remain central.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is committed to ensuring that any possible future return cooperation fully complies with national, EU and international law. We therefore consider it important to explore, in a transparent and evidence based manner, under which strict conditions cooperation with third countries on return could contribute to humane and orderly migration management and preserve protection space. 

In this light, we would like to ask the Special Rapporteur: based on his findings, what concrete elements would define a “best practice” model of cooperation with third countries on return that he would consider genuinely human rights compliant?

Thank you.