A prominent international rights watchdog has accused the European Union of contributing to "a cycle of extreme abuse" against migrants through support for the Libyan Coast Guard in intercepting EU-bound boats, and immediately faced a backlash from right-wing politicians across the continent
BRUSSELS/MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) A prominent international rights watchdog has accused the European Union of contributing to "a cycle of extreme abuse" against migrants through support for the Libyan Coast Guard in intercepting EU-bound boats, and immediately faced a backlash from right-wing politicians across the continent.On Monday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued the 70-page report "'No Escape from Hell': EU Policies Contribute to Abuse of Migrants in Libya." The report documents severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of adequate health care, and accuses the bloc of perpetuating the system by pouring millions of Euros into programs to beef up the Libyan Coast Guard.
"Migrants and asylum seekers detained in Libya, including children, are trapped in a nightmare, and what EU governments are doing perpetuates detention instead of getting people out of these abusive conditions. Fig-leaf efforts to improve conditions and get some people out of detention do not absolve the EU of responsibility for enabling the barbaric detention system in the first place," associate Europe director at HRW Judith Sunderland said, as quoted in the watchdog's press release.
The HRW criticism came after the European Commission adopted four new migration-related programs worth 115 million euros ($131 million) for Africa, including 52 million euros for Libya, in December.
At that time, EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn stated that "human rights training will remain a key component to guarantee that the Libyan authorities targeted by this action comply with human rights standards in their operations."
Italy as the country that "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" has met the greatest portion of criticism from the watchdog.
According to HRW, "enabling the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept people in international waters and return them to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in Libya can constitute aiding or assisting in the commission of serious human rights violations."
Marco Zanni, a European Parliament member from Italy's Lega party, however, argued that Rome had to resort to "drastic measures" while being left by the bloc to deal with the flow of undocumented migrants on its own.
"Italy has not simply stopped the flow of migrants through the Mediterranean, to Sicily and Southern Italy. We have also helped technically and financially the Libyan coastguards to organize themselves. We know the situation in Libyan camps is not ideal, but things are gradually improving with the EU financial help. Italy has had to face the migrants' crisis alone. So, we are not going [to let] anybody dictate our policies from anywhere. Sometimes using drastic measures is more effective and helpful," Zanni told Sputnik.
The lawmaker went on to note that many countries across Europe share Rome's approach to undocumented migration.
"We share a common view with many countries on the migration policies: Austria, the group of Visegrad and others. We want to avoid departures from Libya and stop these illegal flows ... Frankly, I believe that every European country is relieved that Italy stands firm," he added.
According to Mario Borghezio, another European parliament member of from the Lega party, the closure of ports for vessels carrying undocumented migrants is actually the only way to reduce such arrivals and the deaths at sea.
"We must remember that arrivals by sea can only be reduced with [Italian Interior Minister] Matteo Salvini's 'recipe': closed ports and a scrupulous distinction between refugees and economic migrants! Only preventing departures can save lives and fight the traffickers of human flesh .... The data show that the closure of ports has limited departures and drastically reduced deaths," Borghezio told Sputnik.
He recalled that these were Western countries that contributed to the political turmoil in Libya after the overthrow of the legitimate government in 2011, so EU countries must now "work to restore stability, development and genuine economic cooperation with African countries."
RIGHT-WINGERS FROM GERMANY, SPAIN, FRANCE BACK ROME
A co-chair of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alexander Gauland, agreed with Italian counterparts that "Europe must help repatriate these illegals back to their country of origin," while exerting pressure on Libya to treat them well in the meantime.
To back up his stance, Gauland cited the example of Germany that was at times helpless in deporting asylum seekers or banning them from re-entering.
"Germany simply cannot handle the situation any longer: as soon as the asylum seekers are in the country, legal or not, there is no way to handle these people. No wonder they are laughing at us. As long as the rule of law cannot be applied by [Chancellor Angela] Merkel's inefficient government, we must therefore close the borders so that these people cannot even come to Germany. No matter how loud they shout 'asylum' on the border, we cannot listen to them anymore," Gauland told Sputnik.
Spain's right-wing Vox party, which participates in the new regional government in Andalusia, also expressed solidarity with Italy's hardline migration policies.
It comes as Spain has become the main entry point for undocumented migrants in Europe after Italy closed its ports. The Spanish socialist government agreed to take in the migrants reaching the country, which was opposed by an increased majority of Spaniards and partly played into the hands of the Vox party.
"We understand that the situation is difficult in Libyan camps and Europe should help control the situation in these camps but it does not mean at all that these people should be brought to Europe. Never. We understand the decision taken by Italy to stop arrivals," Vox secretary general Javier Ortega Smith told Sputnik.
The Vox party, meanwhile, wants to automatically deport undocumented immigrants to their countries of origin and also send back those who stay there are legally but who have committed crimes, "even minor crimes or felony," he added.
According to Javier Ortega, Spain should crack down on human smugglers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) facilitating undocumented migration, while providing financial support to only those countries that are ready to take back their undocumented migrants.
"There is a mafia of illegal immigration in Spain, and we want to dismantle it by hardening the sentences, including against the NGOs that help illegals get into Spain ... 'Fast-track gateways' to acquire Spanish nationality will be suppressed. We intend to raise the requirement in language level, taxation and integration for the acquisition of the Spanish nationality," he argued.
Marie-Christine Arnautu, a European Parliament member from France's National Rally (RN) party, meanwhile, conceded that Libya's migration management was not ideal, but opined that the HRW report inflated its flaws.
"This NGO, Human rights Watch, exaggerates: first they got permission to visit these centres from the Libyan authorities, so the Libyan authorities are aware that there are difficulties but believe they do their best, otherwise they would not have allowed to NGO to get in," Arnautu told Sputnik.
Unlike the right-wingers from Europe, migrant charities share the HRW's concerns. French-based migrant charity Utopia56, for instance, believes that the situation in Libya is "very grave" as well as that in Morocco.
"Yes, what's going on with Libya is very grave, we completely agree with them [HRW]. The fact that Europe outsources migrants and blocks them at Libyan border is horrifying ... It's a slaughter, it's a shame, when we see all the corpses on the Libyan seashore, which are there because, instead of helping them, the Libyan coast-guards help them to die," the charity's co-founder of Yann Manzi told Sputnik.
Europe with 500 million population could have easily taken in 1.7 million migrants but it does not want to share its piece of pie with them, Manzi suggested.
"Why keep them imprisoned? Why do they keep them in Greece or in Turkey? Because they are poor and we don't want to let them in the Europe of the rich, we don't want to share our piece of pie ... What we see now is that the human rights laws have changed," he said.
According to Manzi, Europe just finds it much more profitable to continue paying the countries of origin, so they guarantee they are not coming to the continent, while also continuing extracting "minerals, petrol, diamonds, uranium" from these countries on a daily basis.
