UN rights chief troubled by new EU migrant return rules

The U.N. rights chief said on June 20 he deeply regretted the European Union's new migration rules, which allow much broader detention powers and the creation of deportation centres outside the bloc.

The rules, approved on Wednesday, enable the 27 EU nations to open "return hubs" outside the bloc's borders, where they can send asylum seekers and migrants to whom they do not grant the right to remain.

Volker Türk, the United Nations' High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the EU and its member states must ensure the rules fully comply with international human rights and refugee law.

"EU states cannot simply outsource their human rights obligations to third states in this context," he said in a statement.