Denmark expects to start sending rejected asylum seekers to deportation camps outside the EU next year

"We have come a long way in the work of establishing an exit centre outside the EU," says Denmark's Migration Minister Morten Bødskov (S) in a written statement.

This was in connection with a meeting in Copenhagen with ministerial colleagues from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece.

“This means that, from the Danish side, we expect to be ready to send the first foreigners to a partner country before the end of next year,” adds Bødskov.

The European Parliament approved the establishment of deportation camps, known in EU parlance as return hubs, in June. Uganda and Rwanda have been mentioned as possible partner countries.

The idea of the camps has received sharp criticism from human rights groups.