According to the Libyan newspaper Oya (or Oea), the State Security Court has delayed its ruling in the mass human trafficking trial involving approximately 520 defendants until 17 October.
Click here for article. (AR)
Click here for previous post.
Category Archives: Libya
Libyan Court Delays Ruling in Mass Trafficking Trial
Filed under Italy, Judicial, Libya, Mediterranean, News
HRW Calls on Libya to Halt Firing on Migrant Boats
Human Rights Watch on 16 September called on the Libyan government to “immediately end what appears to be a policy that allows shooting at boats carrying migrants from Libya to Italy.” HRW also called for Italy to stop participating in joint patrols with Libya.
The request was made as a result of the incident on 12 September when a Libyan patrol boat fired on an Italian fishing vessel. After the incident, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni suggested that the Libyans “perhaps…confused the fishing boat for a boat with illegal migrants.” [”Posso immaginare che i libici abbiano confuso il peschereccio con una imbarcazione con immigrati irregolari, ma posso immaginare soltanto.”]
Bill Frelick, Refugee Program director at Human Rights Watch, said “the Libyans and Italians appear to agree that it was a mistake to shoot at Italian fishermen, but imply that it’s OK to shoot at migrants. The bullet-riddled boat shows a reckless use of potentially lethal force that would have been just as bad if it had actually targeted nonthreatening migrants. This incident shows once again the dangers when an EU member outsources its border controls to third countries. Italy should immediately end its agreement with Libya aimed at intercepting migrants trying to leave Libya.”
Click here for full HRW statement.
Click here and here (IT) for articles.
The arrows indicate the holes left by shots fired from a machine gun against a Libyan patrol boat fishing boat fleet of Mazara del Vallo, Aries (Ansa)
Click here for photo source.
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Filed under Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, News
Libyan State Security Court Expected to Rule Soon in Human Trafficking Trial Involving 500+ Defendants
The Libyan newspaper Oya (or Oea) reported this past week that the State Security Court is expected to issue a ruling on 26 September in a mass human trafficking trial involving approximately 520 defendants. The trials have been ongoing since at least May 2010. The defendants reportedly include members of the armed forces, public security, and Navy. They have been charged with offences relating to human trafficking and facilitating illegal immigration from Libya to Italy.
Click here for article. (AR) (Recently I have not been able to get Google Translate to work with Arabic. I am therefore “reading” Arabic via these two sites: http://www.appliedlanguage.com/web_translation.shtml?s=dd and http://translation.babylon.com/ .)
Click here and here for previous posts on the trial.
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Filed under Italy, Judicial, Libya, Mediterranean, News
Patrol Boat Given to Libya by Italy Fires On Italian Fishing Vessel
One of the six Italian patrol boats given to Libya by the Italian government to assist in efforts to stop migrants from leaving Libya fired on an Italian fishing boat in the Gulf of Sirte on Monday. An Italian official was on board the Libyan vessel as an observer during the incident. Libya apologised for the incident which is being investigated.
Click here and here for articles.
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Filed under Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, News
EUROSTAT Q1 2010 Asylum Statistics for EU27 Countries
EUROSTAT released updated data on 15 July for the First Quarter of 2010. The report is entitled: Asylum applicants and first instance decisions on asylum applications in Q1 2010 (Doc. 32/2010).
Notable statistics include reductions of over 50% in the number of asylum applicants in three countries, Malta, Italy, and Greece, relative to the First Quarter of 2009. Malta had the largest reduction of approximately 95%.
The reductions in Malta and Italy are almost certainly due to Italy’s push-back practice. Though the first migrant arrivals in Malta in 2010 occurred this past weekend, 17 July, when 55 migrants on a sinking vessel were intercepted by Maltese and Libyan patrol boats. The Times of Malta reported that the migrants were “shared out” between the Maltese and Libyan patrol boats. 28 migrants were brought to Malta and 27 were apparently taken to Libya.
Click here for the full EUROSTAT document.
Click here for Times of Malta article.
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Filed under Aegean Sea, Data / Stats, Eastern Atlantic, European Union, Greece, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mediterranean, News
Malmström Meets With Libyan Foreign Minister
Commissioner Cecilia Malmström met with Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa on 13 July. I cannot find any reference to the meeting on Commissioner Malmström’s official web site, but she mentions the meeting on her personal blog (written in Swedish). She writes simply that she met with the FM and that “Libya is a complex but important neighbour and we have a lot to talk about – not least, migration and asylum and human rights. The meeting was a first opportunity to talk.” (translation using Google translate.)
According to an article in Il Manifesto (and reposted on the Diritti Globali web site where I first read / Google-translated it), the ongoing EU-Libya partnership accord talks and the immigration aspects of the accord were discussed in the meeting between the Libyan FM and Malmström.
Also apparently discussed at the meeting was Libya’s decision to release up to 3000 detained migrants from several detention centres, including the Eritreans who were likely detained by Libya after being interdicted at sea and subjected to Italy’s push-back practice.
From the Il Manifesto article:
Quanto alle responsabilità italiane nella vicenda, legate in particolare al fatto che 103 dei 205 detenuti di Braq sono stati respinti in mare dalle navi italiane, la Commissione Ue continua a mantenere un profilo alquanto basso. Ieri Stefano Manservisi, Direttore generale della DG interni della Commissione Ue, intervenendo al dibattito in Parlamento sugli eritrei, ha affermato che «non abbiamo informazioni su dove sono state intercettate queste persone, non si può dire che Malta doveva fare o l’Italia doveva fare, si sa che ora sono in Libia e dobbiamo verificare in che condizioni si trovano». .[…]
Per ora il silenzio, che dura da un anno sui respingimenti, e poche parole anche sul Trattato di partenariato, amicizia e cooperazione tra Italia-Libia, che ha di fatto dato il via libera a questa nuova politica. «Riguardo agli accordi bilaterali, a titolo personale – ha affermato ancora il numero 2 della Malmström – considero migliore un accordo europeo a uno bilaterale, ma ci vuole chiarezza, questo accordo ha pure dimostrato la propria efficacia, è un dato di fatto che il flusso di immigrati si è bloccato». E ancora: «Ci è stato notificato un accordo in linea con la normativa Ue, anche se c’è una componente segreta che non conosciamo». Pur con questa dosi di oscurità, per la Commissione il futuro dell’intesa tra Bruxelles e Tripoli dovrebbe ricalcare una buona parte dell’ accordo tra Berlusconi e Gheddafi: «Dobbiamo fare modo che ciò che è coperto da accordi bilaterali possa diventare base accordo più amplio», ha concluso Manservisi.
Per procedere nei contatti, lo stesso Direttore generale si recherà in Libia prima dell’autunno, quindi toccherà alla commissaria Malmström in ottobre, il tutto in vista della stesura di un accordo generale che parli di immigrazione, ma anche controllo delle frontiere, visti e relazioni economiche. Altro appuntamento chiave il vertice Ue-Unione africana del 29 e 30 novembre a Sirte.
Click here (SV) for the Commissioner’s personal blog post.
Click here (IT) for full Il Manifesto article.
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Filed under European Union, Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, News
Frontex 2010 1st Quarter Report: Irregular Migration at Sea Borders Less Than 10% of Peak Levels
Frontex has released information from its 2010 First Quarter report by the Frontex Risk Analysis Network (FRAN). A copy of the report itself has apparently not been released. According to the summary provided, there have been significant reductions in irregular migration:
- “[D]etections of irregular immigrants at [all EU] sea borders … were less than one-tenth of the peak level (for the third quarter of 2008) when roughly 33,600 detections were reported.”
- “[D]etections at the Spanish and Italian sea borders became negligible…”
- “[D]etections at the dominant Eastern Aegean Sea border between Greece and Turkey also fell by more than 60% to just under 2,300.”
- “Detections at the Greek-Turkish land border were for the first time greater than those at the countries’ sea border.”
- There were “only 150 detections of illegal border-crossing [in the Central Mediterranean], compared to 5,200 detections in the first quarter of 2009…”
- There were “only 500 irregular immigrants detected [in the Western Mediterranean] (almost 72% down on the fourth quarter of 2009 …).”
- There were “only five detections over the first three months of 2010 [on the West African/Canary Island route], in contrast to 31,700 detections in 2006…”
Click here for full statement.
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Filed under Aegean Sea, Algeria, Analysis, Data / Stats, Eastern Atlantic, European Union, Frontex, Greece, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Mediterranean, Morocco, News, Reports, Senegal, Spain, Turkey
Frontex 2010 Annual Risk Analysis
Frontex’s Annual Risk Analysis (ARA) for 2010 was prepared in March 2010 and was posted to the Frontex web site on 7 July. The public document only contains certain portions of the full ARA as recommendations and other “operationally sensitive details” have been redacted. While some of the ARA’s contents have previously been released by Frontex, this 35 page document contains a lot of data regarding irregular migration by land, sea, and air, and is worth a read.
Excerpts from the ARA relating to maritime migration include:
“Detections of illegal border crossing – In 2009, the [EU] Member States and Schengen Associated Countries reported a total of 106,200 detections of illegal border crossings at the sea and land borders of the EU. This represented a 33% decrease compared to 2008. The decrease is comprised of both a strong decrease reported from the sea borders (-23%), and land borders (-43%).”
“The bilateral collaboration agreements with third countries of departure on the Central Mediterranean route (Italy with Libya) and the Western African route (which Spain signed with Senegal and Mauritania) had an impact on reducing departures of illegal migrants from Africa.”
“The agreements were made at a time when the economic crisis decreased the labour demand in the EU, thus simultaneously reducing the pull factor. The synchronisation of these events probably explains why no displacement has so far been noticed from the Central Mediterranean and Western African routes to other illegal migration routes in the statistics for detections.”
“However, intelligence suggests that the risk of displacement remains high, either with the emergence of new routes or the exploitation of existing ones by nationalities which used to be detected along the Central Mediterranean or the Western African routes.”
“As a corollary to the sharp decreases registered in Italy and Spain, the number of detections of illegal border crossing in Greece rose from 50% of the total EU detections to 75% of the total. In 2009, the Greek land border sections with Albania and FYROM represented the largest share of the EU total, with 36,600 detections (34% of the EU total), followed by 22,000 detections in the Aegean Sea with (21% of the EU total).”
“Eastern Mediterranean route – The Eastern Mediterranean route is the route taken by illegal migrants transiting through Turkey and entering the EU through eastern Greece, southern Bulgaria or Cyprus. Turkey, due to its geographical position near the EU, is the main nexus point on this route. From Istanbul, illegal migrants may reach the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, or cross the land borders to Greece or to Bulgaria.”
“In 2009, illegal border crossing on the Eastern Mediterranean route totalled 41,500, or 39% of all EU detections. Most of the detections were reported from the Aegean Sea, followed by detections along the land border between Turkey and Greece. The number of detections reported by Bulgaria and Cyprus were considerably lower.”
“Central Mediterranean route – The Central Mediterranean route refers to illegal migration from northern Africa to Italy and to Malta. For the past two years, Libya has been a nexus point where migrants from the Horn of Africa and Western African routes and a small proportion of Asian nationals met before embarking.”
“Since the signing of a bilateral agreement with Libya, joint patrols by Libya and Italy have had a clear and measurable deterrent effect, with 3,200 detections in the seven months after the joint patrols (June to December), compared to 7,200 detections in the five months before the joint patrols (January to May), and almost 40,000 detections in the whole of 2008.”
“Western African route – The Western African route is primarily through Western African countries to Spain via the Canary Islands. The main embarkation points are in Senegal and Mauritania and the main countries of origin are Mali, Mauritania, Guinea Conakry and Senegal. Other African nationals have also been reported, and occasionally migrants from Asia. This route is now less favoured since the Spanish collaboration agreements with Senegal and Mauritania. The Frontex coordinated Joint Operation Hera plays a major role in maintaining effective surveillance in the area.”
“The Western Mediterranean route includes the sea route from Northern Africa to the Iberian Peninsula, and the land route through Ceuta and Melilla. It is mostly used by Northern African nationals (Algerian and Moroccan) travelling to Spain, France and Italy.”
“Maritime detections between Northern Africa and Spain are rising, with increasing detections of Algerian and to a lesser extent Sub Saharan nationals. Moroccan nationals are also regularly detected on this route. The lack of employment opportunities for the growing population of young people in Morocco continues to increase the incentives of migrating to the EU. The Spanish authorities recently reported an increasing number of attempts by Moroccan minors to get on the ferry link between Tanger and Spain. These cases do not seem connected with criminal networks; rather individual attempts are driven by poor employment prospects in Morocco.”
Click here for the ARA.
Click here for link to Frontex Map showing situation at External Borders.
[ARA page 18]
[ARA page 13]
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Filed under Aegean Sea, Data / Stats, Eastern Atlantic, European Union, Frontex, Greece, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Mediterranean, Morocco, Reports, Senegal, Spain, Turkey
UNODC Publication: Smuggling of Migrants into, through and from North Africa
UNODC has issued a new publication entitled “Smuggling of Migrants into, through and from North Africa: A thematic review and annotated bibliography of recent publications.” Most of the reviewed literature and data are from 2008 and earlier dates and therefore the publication does not include references to more recent events, e.g. the Italy-Libya migration agreement. But it is a comprehensive and useful publication. The 16 page Annotated Bibliography is a very good resource.
According to the UNODC web site, the publication “focuses primarily on the patterns and dynamics of migrant smuggling, as it concerns the North African region. Recognizing, however, that irregular migration and smuggling flows are transnational in nature, the review goes beyond North Africa, to also cover sub- Saharan African and European countries affected along the various smuggling routes. The aim of the review is twofold: to describe major findings on smuggling of migrants; into, through and from North Africa, and to highlight the need for further research on specific issues that have not yet been studied.”
Table of Contents:
- I. Introduction
- II. Quantifying irregular migration and smuggling of migrants
- III. Migrant smuggling routes
- IV. Profiles and characteristics of smuggled migrants
- V. Smuggler-migrant relationships
- VI. Organizational structures of migrant-smuggling networks
- VII. Modus operandi of migrant smuggling
- VIII. Smuggling fees
- IX. The human and social costs of smuggling
- X. Summary of findings
- XI. Annotated bibliography
Click here for the publication.
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Filed under Aegean Sea, Algeria, Analysis, Data / Stats, Eastern Atlantic, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Mediterranean, Morocco, Reports, Senegal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, UNODC
Italy and Malta Question Need for Frontex Sea Patrols
Italy and Malta held a one day summit yesterday that focused on “Strategic Mediterranean” themes. The two countries are calling for a reassessment of Frontex’s role in the Mediterranean, suggesting that Frontex may be best suited for repatriation operations and not for sea patrols. Maltese Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said that even Italy questioned the need for ongoing Frontex missions fearing that such missions might upset the Italy-Libya migration agreement which has almost eliminated irregular migration from Libya. A statement issued by the Italian Foreign Ministry described the Italy-Libya migration agreement as a model that is “exemplary for extension to other African countries.”
Malta also reaffirmed that it would not reconsider its decision not to host Frontex missions unless the Frontex rule addressing where intercepted migrants are to be taken is changed.
Click here and here for articles.
Click here for Italian Foreign Ministry statement.
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Libya Confirms It Is Detaining “Pushed Back” Eritreans
Reuters reported that the Libyan Foreign Ministry confirmed there are approximately 400 Eritreans being held in detention centres in Libya and that 245 of these Eritreans were turned over to Libyan authorities after being intercepted at sea by Italian authorities. Italian officials have previously questioned whether any of the Eritreans in question had been subjected to the Italian push-back practice.
Click here for article.
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Filed under Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, News
Libya May Allow Eritreans to Remain – Italy Claims Credit for Decision
Libya has reportedly agreed to allow approximately 400 Eritreans to remain in Libya, though they will not be given refugee protection as Libya is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention.
ANSAmed reported that Italian officials have claimed credit for Libya’s decision, though the Italians have questioned whether any of the Eritreans have been mistreated and whether any of the Eritreans were subjected to Italy’s push-back practice. Italian Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Stefania Craxi stated that ”the Italian government never backed away from raising awareness with[] Libyan authorities on the topic of human rights.” Craxi said ”it is thanks to the Italian government [that] the UNHCR activities in Tripoli have started again, albeit in an informal and conditioned way.” Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said ”it is unbelievable that Brussels did not even make a press release. [Italy] worked in silence, without proclamations, sadly with the total and absolute absence of Europe. We asked for a compromise, a mediation and the result came.”
While it is good if the Italian Government did indeed work to arrive at a temporary and imperfect solution for this particular group of Eritreans and it is good that the Italian ministers speak of respecting human rights in Libya, the Italians should be equally if not more concerned with the human rights implications of their push-back practice in the Mediterranean.
Click here for article.
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Filed under European Union, Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, News, UNHCR
ECRE and CIR: Ill-treatment of Refugees in Libya: the EU, a Silent Accomplice
ECRE and CIR released a statement on 7 July criticising Italy and the EU in regard to the plight of over 200 Eritrean refugees, some of whom may have been subject to Italy’s push-back practice and who are now detained under dangerous conditions in Libya.
The two organisations “call upon all authorities involved to ensure that refugees are not repatriated to Eritrea where they are at risk of torture and ill- treatment. … ‘We strongly repeat our plea to the Italian Government to resettle the refugees to Italy’, says Christopher Hein, Director of the Italian Council for Refugees (CIR). ‘Some of those who are being mistreated now by the Libyan authorities have been pushed back there by Italy one year ago. Refugees are suffering the consequences of Italy’s violation of its legal obligations and EU Member States’ consenting silence’, added Bjarte Vandvik, ECRE’s Secretary General.”
Click here for the full statement.
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Filed under European Union, Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, Statements
Hammarberg Makes Urgent Request of Italy for Information on Eritreans in Libya
COE Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg has made an urgent request to the Italian Government for information on alleged human rights violations of Eritrean migrants in Libya, including Eritreans who may have been among persons intercepted at sea by Italy and forcibly returned to Libya without being afforded an opportunity to seek international protection.
In a letter to the Italian Foreign Minister, Commissioner Hammarberg wrote “[g]iven the recent decision of the Libyan authorities to discontinue UNHCR’s activities in the country, it is increasingly difficult to confirm the exact accuracy of these reports. However, given their consistency and the seriousness of the allegations, I hope that I can count on your cooperation to urgently clarify the situation with the Libyan authorities and be kept informed about the results of your investigations.”
The Foreign Minister and Interior Minister have written a joint letter to the Il Foglio newspaper where they say that the Italian Government “was mediating with Tripoli to identify the Eritreans and try to find them employment in Libya so that they would not be forcibly repatriated.” According to Reuters, the ministers also said “it was necessary to respect Libyan sovereignty and [they] called for an international approach, involving the United Nations and other organizations” and that the “fate of these Eritrean citizens cannot be resolved only through our bilateral relationship (with Libya).”
Click here for the Commissioner’s letter to the Italian Foreign Minister.
Click here for the Commissioner’s letter to the Italian Interior Minister.
Click here for article.
Click here (IT) for Italian Ministers’ Reply to Il Foglio.
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Filed under Commissioner for Human Rights, Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, News, UNHCR
Libya to Permit UNHCR to Resume Limited Activities
The UNHCR announced on Friday that it has received permission to resume some activities in Libya. The UNHCR said that “its operations will be restricted to only its current caseload” in Libya.
Libyan officials have offered several reasons for why the Libyan government ordered UNHCR to cease operations several weeks ago, including complaints that UNHCR entered into cooperation agreements with local NGOs within Libya without authorisation, rented office space without permission, displayed the UNHCR logo improperly, and, most recently, that one or more persons associated with UNHCR accepted bribes and/or sexual favours from persons in exchange for refugee status.
“UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards stressed that the Libyan allegations remain unsubstantiated. He told journalists in Geneva that talks on the agency’s future in the country will resume shortly and that the expulsion order has not yet been formally lifted. ‘UNHCR does take very seriously any accusation against any UNHCR staff member from whatever source,’ he said. ‘We have a zero tolerance policy for misconduct. We have asked the Libyan Government to substantiate these particular claims. If and when we receive these indications, we will be in a position to investigate through our normal procedures.’”
Click here for UN statement.
Click here, here, here (EN) and here (AR) for articles.
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Filed under Libya, Mediterranean, News, UNHCR
MIGRANTS AT SEA 