With pleasure.
Amnesty International does have serious concerns about the possibility of an entire country being designated as safe. First, the situation as regards human rights violations within a country can change very quickly. We need only think of Kenya. We thought things were going very well, but all of a sudden, a wave of violence washed over the country.
As well, human rights violations may be slow to reach us, even with all the means of communication available to us, and sometimes it is the refugees who tell us about them. It may be that a country presents a relatively positive picture in terms of various aspects of human rights but has serious problems in a particular region. For example, there could be an issue in relation to homosexuals. There may also be violence against women. If a country like that were designated as a safe country, it would become impossible to put a finger on problems of that nature.
As well, there is no way to objectively designate a country as safe. The process will end up being subjective. We have concerns about that subjectivity and how it is going to be measured. We are also concerned, in relation to designation of safe countries, that interests other than human rights may end up being taken into account: for example, trade or political interests.