Torture, beatings and sexual abuse: just a few examples of the abuses suffered every day by migrants who are detained by the Libyan authorities, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch.
Torture, beatings and sexual abuse: according to a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW), these are just a few examples of the abuses suffered every day by migrants who are detained by the Libyan authorities. Abuses to which the Berlusconi government made itself accomplice by repatriating 3,000 illegal immigrants who were refused the most basic rights enumerated in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (the Refugee Convention).
Dirty work. According to a report published by the New York based organisation, which concentrated on Libyan policy towards illegal immigrants, Italy’s responsibility in the matter was evident. Particularly under the previous government of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian authorities are said to have sent at least 2,800 migrants from Lampedusa to Libya without first giving them the chance to claim political asylum as provided for in the Refugee Convention 1951. The migrants were thus left to the mercy of a state which is not even signatory to the above-named Convention. In recent years Libya has by and large accepted the role of Europe’s cop along the Mediterranean coasts, taking on the dirty work that the European Union is reluctant to carry out itself.
Accusations. The accusations of HRW are not isolated. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in a press release published on 18th March 2005, denounced the at best hasty policy of the Italian authorities, which the day before had expelled 180 illegal immigrants on two planes headed for Libya. As had happened previously to HRW and Amnesty International representatives, the UNHCR officials entrusted with the providing protection and legal assistance to migrants were prevented from accessing the temporary detention centre in Lampedusa where the migrants were being held. Furthermore, all these organisations have denounced the overcrowding of the centre, which according to the UNHCR, held 630 people instead of the 190 it was designed to accommodate. Libyan officials were present at the centre and this also is forbidden by the 1951 Convention. What would have happened if among the migrants there had been Libyans intending to request political asylum? This question could be asked also in the case of Eritrean and Somali dissidents who, once repatriated, risk the death penalty.
Abuses. Italy’s position is even worse if one considers the danger in which the migrants find themselves in Libya: HRW has collected numerous testimonies from immigrants who claim to have been mistreated by the Libyan authorities. Their claims range from torture to illegal detentions (which victims can escape only by paying a hefty bribe) and sexual abuse against women. There is also the chronic overcrowding and sanitary conditions which have been described as “terrible” by Mario Mori, who in his capacity as director of the intelligence organisation SISDe (Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Democratica) visited the Seba reception centre in Libya last February. Italy’s actions render her accomplice to these abuses.
Plan agreed. The change in government has brought about an improvement in the situation. Prime Minister Romano Prodi has in fact ended the mass repatriation of Libyan migrants, a practice which is forbidden under the 1951 Convention given that Libya is not a signatory. It’s old news however that the Italian authorities have formulated a plan, in agreement with Tripoli, for the joint monitoring of the African coast. Italian and Libyan security forces will organise joint patrols, assisted by a Libyan police official based in Rome who will act as intermediary. A further relief therefore for Italy, which from now on can stop undesired migrants from even leaving her neighbour’s garden.
Matteo Fagotto (translated by Catherine Da Costa)
