Africa, Development & Aid, Europe, Headlines, Human Rights, Migration & Refugees, Population

RIGHTS-EUROPE: Migrants Avoid Drowning, Only to Face Deportation

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Jul 6 2005 (IPS) - Leading human rights groups say European Union proposals to stop illegal immigrants entering the bloc from Libya are ”irresponsible”.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) say European Union (EU) cooperation with the African country that is ”known for regularly scorning human rights – particularly those of immigrants and refugees” could compromise refugee protection and migrants’ fundamental rights

Last week, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, announced ”emergency measures” to help Malta, Italy and Libya tackle the growing problem of illegal immigration from the African country to the EU member states.

The so-called ARGO Work Programme 2005 will allocate two million euros to the three countries to start joint patrols or to develop other cooperation programmes that address the difficult situation.

The action plan could include an early-warning system, mapping out areas in which to conduct search and rescue operations at sea and in the desert, coastal patrols, helicopters, emergency rescue units, and equipment checks.

The EU is also training Libyan officials on asylum issues, strengthening relevant institutions, and raising public awareness of the dangers associated with illegal immigration. EU member states will also be asked to improve cooperation between their national coastguards and border authorities.

The Commission says the programme will address the crisis situation in the Mediterranean and help prevent the human tragedies that often stem from attempts to enter the EU illegally by sea.

Speaking to journalists last week, EU justice and home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini said the programme will ”send a clear message to Tripoli” and expressed confidence in the commitment of Libya – – one of the main transit countries for would-be immigrants to Europe – ”to the respect of human rights”.

The EU has been seeking Libya’s adherence to the principles of the Geneva Convention on human rights – which Libya has never signed – and fuller cooperation with the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) in return for its help in tackling illegal immigration.

But human rights groups say EU cooperation on immigration matters with a country that is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention on Refugees – the key legal document in defining who is a refugee, their rights and the legal obligations of states – could compromise refugee protection and migrants’ fundamental rights.

”An EU proposal to establish offshore asylum processing centres in Libya, even though Libya has failed to ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention and has no functioning asylum system would be irresponsible,” Vanessa Saenen, a spokesperson for HRW, told IPS Tuesday.

”Asylum seekers and migrants living in or transiting through Libya – particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa – face police abuse, arbitrary detention and substandard detention conditions. Deportations and expulsions to countries like Eritrea and Somalia are common, where the returnees are at risk of serious abuse,” she added.

Amnesty is also concerned that the EU is ”rushing into the development of operational cooperation with Libya while the specific parameters of the external dimension of the common European asylum policy have yet to be defined.”

Although the human rights group acknowledges that measures need to be taken to curb the increase of illegal immigrants from Libya, it adds that the new proposals are unsatisfactory.

It says discussions regarding Libya have developed under ”great political pressure in the absence of clear political guidelines defining the parameters of the external dimension of the common European asylum and immigration policy laid out by the Hague programme” – a five-year programme focused on setting up a common immigration and asylum policy for EU member states.

”We are extremely concerned about the Commission’s proposals. The EU’s fight against illegal immigration is taking over the individual’s needs. The problem is that this agenda is developing too fast on an ad hoc basis,” Daphne Bouteillet-Paquet, executive officer on justice and home affairs at Amnesty, told IPS Tuesday.

”Regional cooperation with African countries must not be used as a humanitarian alibi to allow Libyan authorities to carry out arbitrary arrests and put migrants in prolonged incommunicado detention, where they are at risk of ill-treatment and torture,” she added.

Each year, tens of thousands of people undertake the short but perilous journey across the Mediterranean from Libya and other North African countries such as Morocco to Italy and Spain, in search of a better life in Europe. Hundreds have drowned off Italy’s southern coast as boats have capsized, or smugglers have thrown their passengers into the sea.

Italy is one of the main southern European countries targeted by the migrant traffickers, due to its relative proximity to North Africa, and its long coastline, which is difficult to police.

However, the Italian government has been criticised by human rights groups for what they call its ”summary deportations” of many hundreds of illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers, and for the reported mistreatment of those held in its temporary detention and identification centres.

FIDH says the possible official framework of discussion with Libya at a European level ”risks covering up the questionable deportation practices regularly implemented by the Italian authorities.”

”Several NGOs have lodged a complaint against the Italian Authorities about serious violations of EU principles, but the European Commission, guardian of the legality of the treaties, contents itself to answer that it does not have the power to intervene, because it ‘does not have general jurisdiction as far as fundamental rights are concerned’,” the FIDH’s website says.

”Nevertheless the Union, through the Council, is about to organise operations to control and manage immigration flows, in collaboration with the authorities of a third country, and with a view of delegating part of this control to this country, without any guarantee concerning the rights and the fate of the people subject to these operations!” it continues.