Amnesty International: EU must halt cooperation with Libya on Mediterranean migration News
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Amnesty International: EU must halt cooperation with Libya on Mediterranean migration

Amnesty International Monday released a statement condemning the European Union’s cooperation with Libyan authorities to intercept refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. According to Amnesty, “migrants and refugees both in and outside of detention in Libya are systematically subjected to a litany of abuses by militias, armed groups and security forces with impunity.”

The EU began working with the Libyan Coast Guard in 2016, and leaders signed the Malta Declaration on February 2, 2017. Coastal nations like Italy have their own agreements with Libya.

Secretary-General of the UN Security Council António Guterres released a report on Libya on January 17, 2022. According to the report, France, Germany, Italy, Libya, and the UN convened in November 2021, and agreed to respect “international humanitarian law and human rights.” However the UN continued to document “killings, enforced disappearances, conflict-related sexual violence, including rape, and arbitrary arrests and detention.”  Guterres stated his concern over “the continuing violations of the human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Libya.”

Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović has repeatedly asked member states in the EU to stop cooperating with the Libyan Coast Guard.

In February 2020, Mijatović wrote to Luigi Di Maio, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy. Mijatović expressed “grave” concerns about Italy’s assistance to Libya, which resulted in “increased interceptions of migrants and asylum seekers at sea, and their subsequent return to Libya, where they are subjected to serious human rights violations.”

In response, Italian authorities acknowledged “room for improvement” in the partnership and said their overall goal was to “progressively replace” the system of detention centers and human rights abuses in Libya. In September 2021, the Commissioner addressed European nations and claimed that European policies were responsible for “almost 20,000 recorded returns to serious human rights violations in Libya.”

Despite this considerable opposition to the human rights landscape in Libya, Amnesty reports that the EU naval operation and the Italian government plan to continue their cooperation with Libya.

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