GAPs Coordinators Featured in The European Correspondent on Return Hubs

On 5 September 2025, The European Correspondent featured insights from two GAPs researchers, Zeynep Şahin-Mencütek (Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies) and Soner Bathoma (Uppsala University). The article examined how the externalization of migration management to third countries has entered the European political agenda, paving the way for discussions on establishing “return hubs.”

Soner Bathoma highlighted that “return hubs are an attempt to appease the domestic rise of anti-migrant populism” but stressed that they “won’t address migration issues.”

Zeynep Şahin-Mencütek emphasized the human rights risks of such measures, noting that “return hubs are unlikely to fully deter someone who has already crossed conflict zones or perilous borders – rather, just make them more vulnerable.”

The piece criticized efforts to reduce migration to the establishment of return hubs and instead called for decentering migration studies and promoting evidence-based policymaking.

Inside GAPs