Denmark and four other European Union countries agreed Friday on a model for "return hubs" in non-EU nations, with the aim of beginning to send migrants to the facilities as early as 2027, an official announced.

The agreement came after a one-day meeting in Copenhagen and marks the latest step in an effort by EU states to transfer people whose asylum requests have been rejected to third countries outside the bloc. The effort follows earlier European experiments with outsourcing migration management, including Denmark's own 2021 agreement with Rwanda to explore receiving asylum seekers — which never led to transfers — and Italy's protocol with Albania, under which the first transfers in late 2024 became the subject of court challenges.

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

Bødskov briefed reporters alongside counterparts from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece. The five countries have been negotiating with governments, mainly in Africa, over potential sites, pioneering the initiative for the entire EU.

Human rights groups have criticized plans to deport migrants to centers or prisons in third countries, arguing that European nations cannot guarantee migrants' rights will be respected there.

Bødskov rejected the suggestion that "return hubs" were a euphemism for detention and deportation centers, saying the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. Refugee Agency would monitor the facilities.

"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," Bødskov said.

The UNHCR told The Associated Press that it "has not been approached with details of such a proposal," and therefore "cannot comment on the specific arrangements being discussed or on what any potential role for UNHCR might entail."

IOM told AP that no decision had been made on its potential role in "return hubs." "Discussions remain exploratory," the agency said, and it had provided only "technical advice to some EU Member States on safeguards and operational considerations."

"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," an IOM spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The ministers did not specify which third countries were under consideration, but Bødskov said they expect to reach their first deal by early 2027. Whether the 2027 target holds will depend in part on concluding agreements with partner countries — which have not been finalized — and on whether the model withstands the legal scrutiny that has stalled comparable schemes elsewhere in Europe.

He acknowledged that the concept of "return hubs" was mocked only a few years ago and was deemed incompatible with EU and international law. EU laws, however, have changed under public and political pressure for tougher measures against irregular migration. In June, European lawmakers voted to allow member states to set up centers outside the EU, either on their own or in small coalitions, and to send rejected asylum seekers there instead of back to their home countries.

"This is something new and it's groundbreaking," said Bart van den Brink, the Netherlands' minister of asylum and migration.

In early August, a spokesperson for the Rwandan government said it "was natural" for her government to negotiate with European countries and others about potentially hosting asylum seekers who are not allowed to live elsewhere.

Speaking to Royal FM Kigali, Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo cited an emergency transit mechanism established in Gashora in 2018 for people evacuated from Libya, who could stay there until being resettled in third countries. Makolo said one of the ideas discussed was to offer a "safe place" where people with nowhere else to go could receive medical care, training and rest while their asylum applications were processed, until they could return home if safe or be resettled to yet another country.

"We want to be part of a solution to a big global problem," Makolo said.

What countries negotiating with EU nations would gain in return for accepting Europe's rejected migrants remains unclear.

Migrant rights groups have criticized European efforts to establish migrant centers abroad, where monitoring and enforcing human rights may prove difficult.

In an emailed statement, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty said "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.

The European ministers in Copenhagen stressed that the new hubs would abide by European and international law. Van den Brink, the Dutch immigration minister, said technical talks and missions to potential partner countries would be used "to gain more insight into the human rights situation and the living conditions of the refugees."

"Because we want to do this in a European way, in line with our values and international law and human rights at its core," he said.

The Brussels-based rights group PICUM condemned the Copenhagen meeting.

"EU leaders may call these centers an 'innovative solution,' but outsourcing migration control is an old tactic to simply move people out of sight and evade human rights obligations," PICUM director Michele LeVoy said.

Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland, and Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Philipp Jenne in Vienna and Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.