Human rights groups have criticised plans by some EU countries to deport migrants to centres or prisons in third countries, saying that that the EU nations cannot guarantee their rights will be respected in these countries.

Denmark and four other European Union countries – Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece – have agreed on a model for “return hubs” in non-EU nations and plan to begin sending migrants to these centres as early as 2027, reports from Europe say.

The announcement, made after a one-day meeting in Copenhagen, is the latest development in an effort by EU states to send people whose asylum requests have been rejected to third countries outside the bloc.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, said the “vague assurances of compliance with human rights law are not enough.”

“States need to commit to the guardrails necessary to prevent setting up human rights black holes,” he said.

Brussels-based rights group PICUM condemned the Copenhagen meeting.

“EU leaders may call these centres an ‘innovative solution,’ but outsourcing migration control is an old tactic to simply move people out of sight and evade human rights obligations,” director Michele LeVoy said.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR told media that it had not been approached with details of the proposal.

And the UN’s migration agency IOM said that no decision had been made on IOM’s potential role in so-called ‘return hubs’.

“Discussions remain exploratory and IOM has provided only technical advice to some EU member states on safeguards and operational considerations,” the agency said in a statement.

“We have consistently underscored that any such initiative must comply with EU regulatory and legal frameworks, protect migrants’ rights, respect partner countries’ interests, and ensure individuals’ access to meaningful, sustainable solutions,” statement said.

Denmark’s minister of immigration and integration Morten Bødskov said: “We are moving forward toward what is actually a fundamental transformation of the common European migration and asylum system.”

He revealed the five countries have been negotiating with governments mainly in Africa over potential sites, pioneering the initiative for the whole of the EU.

Mr Bødskov rejected the idea that “return hubs” were a cover for detention and deportation centres and said IOM and UNHCR would monitor the centres.

“We are not talking about camps, we are talking about opportunities, for a new chance for irregular migrants who cannot return to their own country today and who have no legal grounds to be in our countries,” he said.

Just three years ago idea of ‘return hubs’ was widely condemned and deemed not compatible with EU and international law.

But EU laws have changed over time due to political pressure for tougher measures against irregular migration.

European politicians voted in June to allow member states to set up centres outside the EU on their own or in small coalitions as a place to send rejected asylum seekers instead of back to their home countries.

In August, the Rwandan government revealed it was in negotiation with European countries and others to potentially host asylum seekers.