The EU support for the Libyan Coast Guard in intercepting EU-bound boats and detaining migrants and asylum seekers contributes to "a cycle of extreme abuse" against refugees in the African country, a prominent human rights watchdog said in a report on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2019) The EU support for the Libyan Coast Guard in intercepting EU-bound boats and detaining migrants and asylum seekers contributes to "a cycle of extreme abuse" against refugees in the African country, a prominent human rights watchdog said in a report on Monday.The report by Human Rights Watch reveals that migrants and asylum seekers, detained in Libya with EU help, "are trapped in a nightmare," due to severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of adequate health care.
"Yet since 2016, the EU and particular member states have poured millions of Euros into programs to beef up the Libyan Coast Guard's capacity to intercept boats leaving Libya, fully aware that everyone is then automatically detained in indefinite, arbitrary detention without judicial review," the report said.
The watchdog believes that in an effort to prevent refugees from crossing into Europe and by enabling the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept people in international waters, the EU authorities are contributing to "serious human rights violations."
HRW also noted that Italy and Malta contributed to the abusive detention of refugees, as these countries frequently obstructed rescue vessels of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in its waters. At the same time, Italy, the country of destination for a large number of Libyan migrants, provides broadest support for the Libyan Coast Guard in order to reduce influx of migrants from the African country.
"Italy - the EU country where the majority of migrants departing Libya have arrived - has taken the lead in providing material and technical assistance to the Libyan Coast Guard forces and abdicated virtually all responsibility for coordinating rescue operations at sea, to limit the number of people arriving on its shores," the report said.
According to HRW, the European Union is aware of the situation, but stresses that its dialogue with the Libyan government is focused on the ensuring of refugees rights and certain progress was made in this regard. HRW urged the European Union to change its strategy, establish concrete benchmarks for improvements of detention conditions in Libyan detention centers, as well as enable rescue operations by NGOs in the central Mediterranean.
The European Union has been experiencing a large-scale migration crisis since 2015 due to the influx of thousands of migrants fleeing crises in the middle East and North Africa. Earlier in January, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated that 4,216 migrants and refugees had entered Europe by sea through the first 16 days of 2019, a nearly twofold increase in comparison to the same period of last year.
