ASTI, the Luxembourg non-profit that works to support immigrant workers, has added its name to a letter addressed to the EU expressing grave concerns over the decision to transfer responsibility for managing migration along the Central Mediterranean route to Libya to Libyan authorities.
Co-signed by more than 70 European human rights and development organisations from across Europe, including Amnesty International, Care, Caritas Europa, Terre des Hommes and Fédération internationale des droits de l’Homme, the letter asserted that the decision will expose displaced populations to ill-treatment and arbitrary detention.
It went on to say that the decision will neither reduce human rights nor put an end to smuggling, but that it will, nonetheless, considerably increase human rights abuses and the suffering of the migrants.
Noting extensive documentation of systematic violence against refugees and migrants, including rape, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention, execution and other ill treatment in centres where refugees and migrants are detained after being intercepted at sea by Libyan entities engaged in coast guard activity, the letter questioned the Declaration of Malta’s claims that the EU will seek to ensure adequate reception conditions for migrants, in cooperation with UN agencies, particularly as the agencies in question had reported constraints on their ability to access and provide basic services to the vulnerable.
“Given these conditions,” the letter asked, “how can the EU Member States take responsibility for keeping people in Libya? European governments cannot return people to Libya without violating the international principle of non-refoulement.”
EU member states are signatories to the international conventions that oblige states to not force refugees or asylum seekers to return to a country in which they are liable to be subjected to persecution.
The letter asserted that the decision taken by the EU to support Libyan authorities as they intercept refugees and migrants at sea and bring them back to Libya is an “obvious attempt to circumvent the EU’s international obligations by neglecting the alarming conditions thousands of men, woman and children would be exposed to in Libya.”
Moreover, financing border control entities and coast guards in Libya only encourages the systematic arrest and detention of migrants and refugees, and prevent people from seeking a safe haven, condemning them to unnecessary suffering and violating their human rights.
The letter also questioned who the EU thought it might deal with on an agreement with a government that has limited and precarious power, exercised in competition with a variety of other actors.
“In addition, we would like to understand with whom the EU intends to work. How will the Libyan border guards be selected? And who will monitor their activities? Because very many of these coast guard agencies operate autonomously, with limited government control and without judicial oversight. In addition, there is no accountability mechanism in place for these actors.”
The full text of the letter can be found on the ASTI website.
