A Reuters article from 11 May reports that the EU and Libya may sign a cooperation pact known as an Association Agreement before the end of the year and that the pact would address matters such as trade and the control illegal immigration. An EU mission will likely be opened in Libya before the end of the year according to Reuters.
Commissioner Cecilia Malmström during an interview with the Times of Malta several weeks ago referred to her efforts to begin immigration discussions with Libya:
“Libya is not exactly the easiest government to cooperate with and you know that much better being neighbours. It’s a complicated but important country and we will try to move forward. I’ve already written a letter to the Libyan Foreign Minister suggesting that we should sit together and identify areas where we can cooperate more in the field of migration.”
And Frontex’s 2009 General Report states that one of Frontex’s “overriding priorit[ies]” for 2010 is the development of “structured operational co-operation with neighbouring Mediterranean countries.” Presumably Frontex desires such an agreement with Libya.
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MIGRANTS AT SEA 
Thanks for an interesting article. I am a freelance journalist looking into this subject, and I was surprised when I read that UNODC is about to open an office in Tripoli (http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press/releases/2009/November/unodc-to-open-office-in-libya.html), that among other things will support Libya fighting the smuggling of migrants.
In that struggle, UNODC bases itself on the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (Migrant Smuggling Protocol), which stipulates that all measures should be taken to protect the rights of smuggled persons. I wonder how UNODC will manage to cooperate with the Libyan authorities without ending up in fact violating the rights of the smuggled people.
If anyone has more information on this subject, I would be most grateful.
Jöran Lindeberg
joran.lindeberg@gmail.com
http://joranlindeberg.blogspot.com/
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