Tag Archives: Italy

by | 11 May 2010 · 14:29

Maroni: Migration Agreement with Libya is a Success

During an interview yesterday, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni again described the bi-lateral migration agreement between Italy and Libya as effective saying that 850 migrants were successfully intercepted and returned last year.  He contrasted the 850 intercepted migrants with the 37,000 migrants who reached Italian shores in the previous year.  He said that the thousands of would be migrants who have been prevented from reaching Italy have been stopped by Libyan authorities in Libya.  He described this as the “fruit of the cooperation agreement with Libya.” (E’ il frutto dell’accordo di cooperazione fra Italia e Libia.”)

Click here (IT) for article.

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by | 11 May 2010 · 04:38

Italy Will Try to Convince Malta to Resume Frontex Patrols

A bi-lateral meeting between Italy and Malta is scheduled for Thursday, 13 May.  Italy’s Interior Minister Roberto Maroni reportedly has said that he will try to convince Malta to recommit to the Frontex sea patrols.  Maroni expressed concern that the lack of participation by Malta in the patrols will have negative consequences because it will create a break in what was a united front in the Mediterranean.

Click here (EN) and here (IT) for articles.

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by | 04 May 2010 · 14:56

Int’l Law Observer: Italy’s Asylum Policy Violates Int’l Law

Some additional comments on the Council of Europe CPT’s condemnation of Italy’s push-back practice in the Mediterranean can be found in a post by Michèle Morel on International Law Observer.

The “conclusion of the CPT is highly important in the light of the coming decision of the European Court of Human Rights on Italy’s asylum policy. It is a powerful signal, not only towards Italy but also towards other European countries carrying out the practice of intercepting and returning migrants without human rights guarantees, such as Spain and Greece.”

Click here for the complete post.

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by | 30 Apr 2010 · 04:15

Malmström: Right to Seek Asylum At Sea Should Be Respected

Commissioner Cecilia Malmström held meetings in Italy yesterday and has meetings in Malta today.  In her meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini she suggested that any possible future migration agreement between the EU and Tripoli ”would not follow the model of the [current migration] agreement between Italy and Libya.”  ANSA reported she said that while it is ”important to try and begin dialogue” with Tripoli, ”if there is an agreement, it is clear that the fundamental condition for Libya must be adherence to the Geneva Convention or the equivalent among African states ”on the rights of political refugees.”

In regard to current practices, Malmström said that the right to seek asylum should be respected even when one is already at sea. (”Bisogna comunque – ha concluso la Malmstrom – rispettare il diritto di chiedere asilo quando si e’ gia’ in mare”.)

Click here (IT), here (EN), and here (IT) for articles.

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by | 29 Apr 2010 · 05:54

Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture Report is Highly Critical of Italy’s Push-Back Practice

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published on 28 April its report on its visit to Italy in July 2009 and the official response to the report from the Italian Government.

In the CPT’s view, “Italy’s [push-back] policy, in its present form, of intercepting migrants at sea and obliging them to return to Libya or other non-European countries, violates the principle of non-refoulement, which forms part of Italy’s obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”

“The so-called push-back policy, as pursued by the Italian authorities and described in this report, does not meet [the] requirements [ of the ECHR]. The CPT urges the Italian authorities to substantially review forthwith the current practice of intercepting migrants at sea, so as to ensure that all persons within Italy’s jurisdiction – including those intercepted at sea outside Italian territorial waters by Italian-controlled vessels – receive the necessary humanitarian and medical care that their condition requires and that they have effective access to procedures and safeguards capable of guaranteeing respect for the principle of non-refoulement.”

The CPT is also very critical of the lack of cooperation received from the Italian Government: “Regrettably, the co-operation received at the central level [of the Italian Government] was, in certain respects, unsatisfactory. The delegation was denied access to some documents and information it had requested, which did not facilitate its task. Other information requested by the delegation prior to and in the course of the visit was not provided in a timely manner and when eventually furnished was, moreover, incomplete.”

“For instance, information requested pertaining, inter alia, to the logbooks from each push-back operation and the names of personnel responsible for the operations, which the authorities undertook to provide to the delegation, was subsequently refused on grounds of confidentiality. Also, the Italian authorities denied the existence of a list/inventory of objects seized from migrants in the course of a push-back operation, a copy of which the delegation had requested, and yet certain representatives of the Navy had told the delegation that such a list had indeed been compiled.”

“Further, the CPT’s delegation learned from the press, and not from the Italian authorities, that during the visit, on 29-30 July 2009, a push-back operation took place. … In the Committee’s view, when a CPT delegation carries out a visit to a Party to the Convention focussing on a specific issue made known in advance, the State authorities should, in a spirit of co-operation, endeavour to keep the visiting delegation informed of significant events pertaining to that same issue.”

Click here for CPT Press Release.

Click here for the CPT Report.

Click here for the Response of the Italian Government.

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by | 29 Apr 2010 · 05:28

Malta Says Frontex Chronos Mission Not Needed Due to Success of Italy-Libya Push-Back Agreement

Malta previously said that it would not host Operation Chronos, Frontex’s annual central Mediterranean enforcement operation, formerly known as Nautilus, due to the recently approved guidelines governing Frontex enforcement operations at sea which require that intercepted migrants be taken to the country hosting the mission under certain circumstances.

But the Times of Malta is reporting that a Maltese government spokesperson said that the decision not to host Frontex is not because of the new guidelines, but is due to Malta’s view that there is no longer a need for Operation Chronos because of the success of the Italy-Libya migration agreement. “The reason why we decided not to take part in this year’s mission is that we feel there is no need for this year’s EU patrol.  We have noticed that, following the introduction of joint patrols by Libya and Italy last year, the number of illegal immigrants reaching Malta has dropped significantly. We feel that, as long as this operation remains in place, there is no real need for another anti-migration mission on behalf of the EU.”

The Times article reports that 84 boats carrying 2,775 migrants arrived in 2008 and that this number was reduced in 2009 to 17 boats carrying 1,475, with the majority of arrivals occurring in the first half of 2009 before the Italian push-back policy was implemented.

Commissioner Cecilia Malmström travels to Rome and Malta this week for meetings with officials on asylum and migration issues.

Click here for article.

Click here, here, and here for earlier related posts.

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by | 23 Apr 2010 · 16:02

Italian Prosecutor Brings Charges Against Heads of Immigration Directorate and Guardia di Finanza in Connection with Push-Back Operation to Libya

The Syracuse Prosecutor’s Office (La Procura della Repubblica di Siracusa) has brought criminal charges against Rodolfo Ronconi, the head of the Italian Immigration Directorate and Border Police (la direzione centrale dell’immigrazione e la polizia delle Frontiere) and Vincenzo Carrarini, the head of the Finance Police (Guardia di Finanza) in connection with the forcible return of 75 migrants who were intercepted at sea in international waters by a Guardia di Finanza ship in August 2009 and returned to Libya pursuant to the Italy-Libya migration agreement.

Charges were not brought against individual Guardia di Finanza military personnel who carried out the interception and push-back of the migrants on the grounds that they were acting under orders from superiors and that those orders were not manifestly illegal (per ordini superiori non manifestamente illegittimi).

The charges allege that the two officials were complicit in private violence (concorso in violenza private).  According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the charges are not based on the act of refoulement, but rather are based on the failure to apply Italian law.  After being intercepted, the 75 migrants were brought aboard the Guardia di Finanza ship which then transported them to Libya.  According to the Prosecutor, Italian laws applied once the migrants were taken onto the Guardia di Finanza ship because the ship is the equivalent of Italian territory.  The charges are based on allegations that the migrants were taken to Libya against their will and were denied access to procedures for the protection of refugees and prevented from exercising other rights available to them under domestic law and international law incorporate within domestic law.

At least nine similar interdiction operations were conducted by Italy in 2009 in the Channel of Sicily which resulted in the forcible return of at least 834 migrants to Libya.  The first such interdiction operation in May 2009 is at issue in the case of of Hirsi and others v Italy, Requête no 27765/09 now pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

The other interdiction operations consist of the following:

  • 7 May – About 230 migrants intercepted in three boats in the Strait of Sicily and returned to Libya.
  • 8 May – A boat with about 80 people in difficulty off the coast of Libya was towed to Tripoli.
  • 10 May – A naval patrol returned more than 200 people to Libya who were intercepted in the Channel of Sicily.
  • 19 June – A boat with 76 migrants near Lampedusa, intercepted by a Coast Guard patrol, and the immigrants, including women and children, were then transferred to a Libyan patrol boat and returned to Tripoli.
  • 1 July – 89 migrants (including 9 women and 3 children) located on a raft about 30 miles from Lampedusa were taken on board a Navy ship and transferred to an Agip oil platform off the coast of Libya. From there a Libyan patrol boat took them to Tripoli.
  • 5 July – About 40 migrants rescued near Lampedusa by a patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza.  Many of whom were later reported to be in Tripoli.
  • 29 July – A boat with 14 people was rescued by a patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza. Passengers were taken to Tripoli.
  • 30 August – A boat with 75 migrants on board (among them 15 women and 3 children) was intercepted south of Capo Passero. Passengers were transferred to a patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza and returned to Libya.

Click here (IT) and here (IT) for articles.

Click here for previous post on Hirsi and others v Italy.

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by | 17 Apr 2010 · 16:38

Maroni: Italy’s Push-Back Agreement with Libya Has Resolved Italy’s Migrant Problem

Roberto Maroni, Italy’s Interior Minister, speaking to the Italian Parliament’s Schengen Committee, said that as a result of Italy’s 2009 push-back agreement with Italy, migratory flows have been mostly diverted to the west to Spain and to the east to Greece.  According to Maroni, to the extent that migrants are reaching Italy by sea, they are doing so by routes from Tunisia and other countries, but not from Libya.  Maroni said that “this resolves Italy’s problem, but not Europe’s problem.” [“Questo risolve i problemi dell’Itala, ma non dell’Europa.”]

According to Maroni there has been a 96% decrease in the arrival of irregular migrants in Italy over the first three months of 2010 compared with the same period last year: from 1 January to 4 April there have reportedly been 170 arrivals compared with 4,573 arrivals over the same period in 2009.

Maroni praised the push-back agreement by saying “We’ve had 28,000 fewer arrivals [since its May 2009 implementation] and we’ve saved countless lives. It’s an unprecedented and concrete achievement which is the result of Berlusconi’s diplomacy and the agreement he struck with Libya.”.

Click here (IT) and here (EN) for articles.

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by | 16 Apr 2010 · 04:18

8th Conference of the Foreign Ministers of the Western Mediterranean (“5+5”)

Foreign Ministers from the so-called “5+5” countries, France, Spain, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, and Tunisia, are meeting this week in Tunis to discuss a variety of issues including migration, which will be discussed at the plenary session on 16 April.

Click here (FR) and here (FR) for articles.

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by | 15 Apr 2010 · 15:56

COE Committee of Ministers: “Europe’s boat people: mixed migration flows by sea into southern Europe”

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on 31 March adopted its Reply to COE Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1850 (2008) on“Europe’s boat people: mixed migration flows by sea into southern Europe.”

Comments from the COE European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment are attached to the Rely as an Appendix.

The Reply contains an acknowledgement that the Committee of Ministers was not able to reach agreement on the recommendation that guidelines be prepared for minimum standards to be applied to the detention of irregular migrants:

“5. The Committee of Ministers has taken note of the proposal that guidelines be prepared for minimum standards to be applied to the detention of irregular migrants and asylum seekers. However, the Committee of Ministers has not, at the present time, reached a common position with regard to examining possibilities for Council of Europe action in this area. The Committee of Ministers underlines the importance of the relevant instruments of the Council of Europe, such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the recommendations adopted by the Committee of Ministers in this field (see paragraph 9 below), as well as those emerging from the work of the CPT and the Commissioner for Human Rights. It notes the ongoing work in the European Union in this field, including the revision under way of the 2003 directive laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers.”

Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1850 was issued in 2008 prior to the implementation in 2009 of Italy’s push-back practice and the Committee of Ministers’ Reply does not make explicit reference to Italy’s push-back policy.  The Recommendation and Reply are focused on the treatment of irregular migrants as they arrive on the shores of member states.

But there are several statements in the Reply which should apply implicitly to the irregular migrants whether encountered upon arrival on shore or intercepted or rescued in international waters.

For example:

“6. Particularly significant instruments in this field, also to be borne in mind in the framework of any possible activity in this area, include Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation No. R (98) 13 of 18 September 1998 on the right of rejected asylum seekers to an effective remedy against decisions on expulsion in the context of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Recommendation No. R (98) 15 on the training of officials who first come into contact with asylum seekers, in particular at border points and Recommendation Rec(2003)5 on measures of detention of asylum seekers. The Committee of Ministers would also signal the “Twenty guidelines on forced return” adopted on 20 May 2005 and the Guidelines on human rights protection in the context of accelerated asylum procedures adopted on 1 July 2009.”

“7. The Committee of Ministers would also refer to other texts relevant in this area, such as its reply to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1755 (2006) on “Human rights of irregular migrants” in which it draws attention to the minimum safeguards provided for in the European Convention on Human Rights that can be applied to irregular migrants. It also recalls its Recommendation No. R (2000) 3 to member states on the right to satisfaction of basic material needs of persons in situations of extreme hardship, which provides a minimum threshold of rights which should be recognised regardless of their status.”

“10. The Committee of Ministers would also draw attention to the extensive work of the Commissioner for Human Rights in this field and to his recommendations to member states and his appeals for solidarity within Europe with those countries that are on the frontline and facing a very difficult situation. It also refers to the regular exchanges of views that it holds with the Commissioner during the year. These exchanges are both of a general nature but also concern specific country reports in which he addresses, inter alia, the protection of human rights of immigrants and asylum seekers, including, where relevant, those arriving by sea. [***]”

Click here for the full Committee of Ministers Reply.

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by | 13 Apr 2010 · 04:48

IMO Biannual Reports on “Unsafe Practices Associated with the Trafficking or Transport of Migrants by Sea”

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been collecting data on “unsafe practices associated with the trafficking or transport of illegal migrants by sea” since 1999.

Two times a year it releases a biannual report regarding incidents which are reported to the IMO by Member Governments.  The IMO describes the basis for the reporting as follows: “The Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventieth session (7 to 11 December 1998), in approving MSC/Circ.896 on Interim measures for combating unsafe practices associated with the trafficking or transport of illegal migrants by sea, invited Member Governments to promptly convey to the Organization reports on relevant incidents and measures taken to enable the updating or revising of the circular.”

In recent years (and perhaps since 1999), by far most of the reported incidents are provided by Greece.  Italy and Turkey have only reported a small number of incidents in recent years.  It is clear that most Member Governments do not routinely provide data for these biannual reports.

Even though a substantial number of incidents are not being reported and are therefore not documented in the reports, the biannual reports do contain an extensive amount of information dating back to 1999 regarding 2,030 incidents where 77,853 migrants were rescued or intercepted.

The reported data, when provided, include:

  • Ship’s name or description
  • Date and time of incident
  • Position of incident
  • Description of incident
  • Measures taken
  • Migrants (number and nationality; gender; adults/minor)

Click here for the Biannual Report issued 18 February 2010.

Click here for the Biannual Report issued 2 November 2009.

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by | 12 Apr 2010 · 04:25

Vatican Criticises Italy-Libya Migration Agreement

Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, criticised the Italian agreement with Libya in a speech in Rome for the second European conference on the issue of human rights in the training of European lawyers.

”Confermo – conclude quindi mons. Marchetto – la mia posizione di condanna a chi non osserva il principio di non refoulement, che sta alla base del trattamento da farsi a quanti fuggono da persecuzione. E mi domando se in tempo di pace non si riesce a far rispettare tale principio fondamentale del diritto internazionale umanitario, come si fara’ a richiederne l’osservanza in tempo di guerra. E la domanda si puo’ estendere alla questione della protezione dei civili durante i conflitti, che viene cosi’ indebolita nella sua radice, comune, umanitaria”.

Click here (EN) and here (IT) for articles.

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by | 10 Apr 2010 · 04:13

28th Franco-Italian Summit – Agreement on Joint Maritime Patrols

The 28th Franco-Italian Summit was held 9 April in Paris and resulted in the signing of approximately 25 agreements between France and Italy.  Among the agreements is a joint declaration on immigration which highlights the leading role played by France and Italy in controlling illegal immigration in the Mediterranean region.  The agreement provides for, among other things, joint French-Italian maritime patrols to monitor the countries’ territorial waters.  The agreement also stresses the need to strengthen the role of Frontex and calls for cooperation with both Libya and Turkey on immigration matters, including readmission of migrants.

Click here (EN), here (IT), here (IT), and here (FR) for articles.

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by | 26 Mar 2010 · 02:26

NRC Article: Seaborne interception of immigrants tested in ECtHR

From NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands):  “None of them have ever set foot on European soil. Most are incarcerated in Libyan detention centres. Some may have already been sent back to their countries of origin. Yet they are filing suit against the Italian state in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The plaintiffs are 24 immigrants from Somalia and Eritrea who tried to sail from Libya to Italy on May 6, 2009. They were intercepted by the Italian coast guard 35 kilometres off the island of Lampedusa and immediately sent back to Libya. Back in the north African country, the would-be immigrants were put in touch with two Italian immigration lawyers, who then brought their case to the ECHR in Strasbourg.

The case is unique, said Thomas Spijkerboer, a professor of migration law at Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit. ‘For the first time, Europe’s highest court for human rights will look into the most controversial policy combating illegal seaborne migration any European state has implemented so far,’ he said. …

The Italian lawyer Anton Giulio Lana has been granted power of attorney to act on the behalf of 24 returned would-be immigrants. Lana was put in touch with his clients by an international NGO that operates in Libya. Speaking on the phone from Rome, Lana explained: ‘I would rather not say what NGO is helping us. It needs to be able to operate in Libya for the time being.’  According to Lana, Italy has violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights that prohibits ‘torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’. Deported immigrants run the risk of being exposed to such treatment in Libya. The convention also forbids collective expulsion of foreigners, and according to refugee law, it is illegal to deport asylum seekers to a country where they could face persecution.”

Click here for full article.

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by | 18 Mar 2010 · 06:21

UNHCR Files ECtHR Third Party Intervention in Hirsi v. Italy

The UNHCR submitted a third party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Hirsi and others v Italy, Requête no 27765/09, which was filed on 26 May 2009 by 11 Somalis and 13 Eritreans who were among the first group of about 200 migrants interdicted by Italian authorities and summarily returned to Libya pursuant to Italy’s push-back practice.  The case was communicated by the Second Section of the Court on 17 November 2009.

The UNHCR’s intervention “addresses the practice and justification of ‘push-back’ operations by the Italian government, the conditions for reception and seeking asylum in Libya and the extraterritorial scope of the principle of non-refoulement and pursuant legal obligations concerning the rescue and interception of people at sea.”

Excerpts from the intervention:

“[***]  2.2.1  On 6 May 2009, the Italian government, in cooperation with the government of Libya, initiated the so-called “push-back policy” by intercepting people, including those who may be in need of international protection, on the high seas and returning them to Libya. This policy was a departure from the previous practice where Italian naval forces had regularly disembarked such persons in Lampedusa or Sicily. Based on UNHCR’s estimates, in 2008 some 75% of sea arrivals in Italy applied for asylum, and 50% of those who applied received some form of protection after their claims were assessed in the Italian asylum procedure.

2.2.2  According to the Italian authorities, from 6 May to 6 November 2009, a total of nine operations were carried out, returning a total of 834 persons to Libya. The precise modalities of the operations have not been made public and were not otherwise fully disclosed to UNHCR. …

4.1  The extraterritorial scope of the principle of non-refoulement under Article 33 (1) of the 1951 Convention…

4.1.2  The territorial scope of Article 33 (1) is not explicitly defined in the 1951 Convention. The meaning, purpose and intent of the provision demonstrate, in UNHCR’s view, its extraterritorial application, e.g., to situations where a state acts outside its territory or territorial waters. Furthermore, the extraterritorial applicability of human rights obligations contained in various instruments supports this position ….

4.2  The extraterritorial scope of the principle of non-refoulement in human rights law

4.2.1  The complementary and mutually reinforcing nature of international human rights law and international refugee law speak strongly in favour of delineating the same territorial scope for all expressions of the non-refoulement principle, whether developed under refugee or human rights law….

4.3  The principle of non-refoulement in the context of interception and search and rescue operations on the high seas

4.3.1  As stated earlier, the principle of non-refoulement applies whenever a state exercises jurisdiction. Jurisdiction can be based on de jure entitlements and/or de facto control. De jure jurisdiction on the high seas derives from the flag state jurisdiction.  De facto jurisdiction on the high seas is established when a state exercises effective control over persons. Whether there is effective control will depend on the circumstances of the particular case.

4.3.2  Where people are intercepted on the high seas, rescued and put on board a vessel of the intercepting state, the intercepting state is exercising de jure as well as de facto jurisdiction. While de jure jurisdiction applies when the people on board a ship are sailing under the flag of the intercepting state, it is also exercised – relevant to the case of “push-backs” – where the intercepting state has taken the persons on board its vessel, bringing them under its full (effective) control. In UNHCR’s view, as becomes clear from section 2.2 above, the Italian authorities were in full and effective control of the persons throughout the “push-back” operations until the formal hand-over to the Libyan authorities. Article 4 of the Italian Code of Navigation specifies that Italian ships on the high seas are considered as Italian territory.

4.3.3  When jurisdiction on the high seas has been established, the obligations deriving from it in relation to the principle of non-refoulement should be examined. The UNHCR’s Executive Committee has emphasized the fundamental importance of fully respecting this principle for people at sea, underlining that: ‘interception measures should not result in asylum-seekers and refugees being denied access to international protection, or result in those in need of international protection being returned, directly or indirectly, to the frontiers of territories where their life or freedom would be threatened on account of a Convention ground, or where the person has other grounds for protection based on international law.’

4.3.4  In UNHCR’s view, the situation in which a state exercises jurisdiction on the high seas over people on board its vessels requires respect for the principle of non-refoulement. It follows that states are obliged, inter alia, not to hand over those concerned to the control of a state where they would be at risk of persecution (direct refoulement), or from which they would be returned to another country where such a risk exists (indirect refoulement). The state exercising jurisdiction needs to ensure that asylum-seekers are able to access fair and effective asylum procedures in order to determine their needs for international protection….

4.3.6  For interception or rescue operations carried out by EU Member States, UNHCR has clarified that, “… disembarkation of people rescued in the Search and Rescue (SAR) area of an EU Member State should take place either on the territory of the intercepting/rescuing State or on the territory of the State responsible for the SAR. This will ensure that any asylum-seekers among those intercepted or rescued are able to have access to fair and effective asylum procedures. The disembarkation of such persons in Libya does not provide such an assurance”.

5.  Conclusion

5.1  UNHCR considers that the interception of persons on the high seas between Italy and Libya, their transfer from Italian to Libyan custody, and their return to Libya, may be at variance with the principle of non-refoulement and in contradiction to Article 3 of the ECHR. By returning persons to Libya without an adequate assessment of their protection needs, the Italian authorities appear not to have sufficiently taken into account the potential risk of refoulement, including indirect refoulement, and other possible violations of fundamental rights upon return of the affected persons to Libya. The lack of an asylum system in Libya means that there are not sufficient safeguards to ensure that persons in need of international protection will be recognized as such and accorded legal status and associated entitlements that could ensure their rights, including to protection against refoulement, are not violated. The risk of chain refoulement denying international protection, especially to Eritrea, cannot be excluded.”

Click here for the full text of the UNHCR intervention.

Click here for an earlier post on the case.

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