Italy and other European Union countries should not cede control over rescue operations in international waters to Libyan forces because they have engaged in reckless conduct during recent rescue operations that endangered people in international waters in the Mediterranean, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
The central Mediterranean is the deadliest migration route in the world. From the beginning of 2014 through June 1, 2017, over 12,000 people have died or been reported missing. Since January 1, over 60,000 people have been rescued and brought to Italian shores.
Human Rights Watch said on May 10 and May 23, Libyan coast guard forces’ patrol boats in international waters intervened in rescues already in progress by nongovernmental organizations, used threatening behavior likely to induce panic, and failed to provide life jackets to people seeking rescue from unseaworthy vessels.
On May 23, it said, nongovernmental groups witnessed – and videotaped – Libyan coast guard officers firing shots into the air, and collected corroborating testimony from survivors that the officers had also fired shots into the water after panicked people had leaped into the sea.
Italy’s decision to cede control of the May 10 event to Libyan coast guard forces was consistent with an overall EU strategy to deputise Libyan authorities to prevent boat migration to Europe despite deep concerns about outsourcing responsibility to one party in a country riven by conflict and where migrants face horrific abuse.
Human Rights Watch said as a general rule, Libyan forces disembark people they rescue or intercept at sea in Libya, where they face arbitrary detention in abysmal conditions and a well-documented risk of serious abuse, including forced labour, torture, and sexual violence.
Due to what the United Nations has called a “human rights crisis” for migrants in Libya, EU-flagged vessels are prohibited from returning anyone there, regardless of where a rescue takes place. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has called on all countries to “allow civilians fleeing Libya (Libyan nationals, habitual residents of Libya, and third country nationals) access to their territories.”
Libyan authorities lack the capacity, equipment, and training to perform safe rescues, which should be required before they can assume coordination, Human Rights Watch said. If Italy is directing a rescue operation, it should ensure safe rescue and disembarkation, and not hand over command to Libyan coast guard forces, except in situations of imminent loss of life and the absence of alternate rescue vessels, it added.
Photo credit: UN
Source PANA
