A UN expert warned on Tuesday that policies on border protection and migration cannot nullify the absolute ban on returning a person to torture as set out in international law. The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Alice Jill Edwards, published a position paper on the principle of non-refoulement to torture. The paper stipulates that this principle is one of the “most important safeguards in international human rights law,” emphasizing that it creates an absolute prohibition of torture, without exception. On 1 June 2026, the Council of the EU approved the Return Regulation whose powers include the expansion countries of return and return hubs, and the expansion of entry bans. The UK government also recently announced plans to incorporate AI facial recognition technology to assess younger asylum seekers’ ages.