On Thursday 29 August 2024, Luxembourg's Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Family Affairs, Solidarity, Living Together and Reception of Refugees announced the establishment of a first "return home" (maison de retour) to accommodate failed asylum seekers.
The ministries noted that, with a view to the future transposition of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and with the aim of ensuring optimal management of available reception capacities, the government intends to better supervise, on the one hand, the return of individuals whose application for international protection has been definitively rejected and who have exhausted all possible appeals, to their country of origin and, on the other hand, the transfer of individuals who are obliged to go to another Member State on the basis of the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation.
The ministries recalled that, in addition to the development of a new concept for voluntary return, the coalition agreement provides in particular for the establishment of a "return home" for people subject to a decision to remove them from the territory. These measures form part of the government's desire to promote voluntary return and to optimise and make more efficient asylum and reception procedures.
From Sunday 1 September 2024, a first temporary return home will be set up in the premises of the SHUK emergency accommodation structure in Luxembourg-Kirchberg, under the management of the retention centre. It will accommodate illegal residents who are obliged to leave the territory, as well as people who are subject to a transfer to another Member State on the basis of the Dublin III Regulation, who have a real prospect of being transferred.
According to the ministries, the creation of this dedicated infrastructure is expected to make it possible to provide targeted social support to people before their return and to encourage recourse to voluntary return, in the interest of those concerned.
