Migration Diplomacy and the Externalization of European Union Border Policy in North Africa

Background: The European Union's expanding bilateral migration cooperation agreements with Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania since 2022, involving financial assistance tied to border enforcement commitments, has intensified scholarly debate regarding the externalization of European migration governance to third countries with documented human rights concerns. Aims/objectives: This study examines how migration cooperation agreements function as instruments of European Union external border policy and their implications for human rights accountability in partner states. Method: A qualitative document analysis of bilateral migration agreements, European Parliament reports, and interviews with migration policy researchers was conducted covering agreements concluded between 2022 and 2024. Results: Findings indicate that financial incentives linked to border enforcement have measurably reduced irregular crossing attempts along certain Mediterranean routes, while simultaneously generating documented reports of human rights violations against migrants intercepted within partner state territory, raising questions regarding European Union accountability for downstream effects of externalized policy. Conclusion: The research concludes that migration externalization arrangements achieve stated policy objectives of reduced irregular migration at the cost of diminished direct oversight over human rights conditions affecting migrants. Strengthening independent monitoring mechanisms within these bilateral agreements is recommended to reconcile border management objectives with international human rights obligations owed to migrants and asylum seekers affected by externalized enforcement practices.

Keywords: migration diplomacy, European Union, border externalization, North Africa, human rights accountability