Frontex posted this map to its web site earlier this week. The map “describes the … situation [as of the end of 2009] at the external borders of the EU, including the main entry routes of irregular migration into the European Union: West African route, via Canary islands, Central Mediterranean, including Italy and Malta, South Eastern European route (including Greek land and sea borders) as well as the Eastern land borders.”
Click here for link to the map.
Filed under Data / Stats, European Union, Frontex, News
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.
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.
Filed under Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, News
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.
Filed under European Union, Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, News, UNHCR
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.
Filed under European Union, Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, Statements
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.
Filed under Commissioner for Human Rights, Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, News, UNHCR
On 23 June the JURI committee (Committee on Legal Affairs) voted in camera to refer the question of the validity of the Frontex rule regarding the surveillance of the sea external borders to the European Court of Justice (Council Decision 2010/252/EU (“Frontex / Sea borders”)). The referral requests the Court “to preserve the effects of the measure until a new legislative act has been adopted.”
Maltese MEP Simon Busuttil, the EPP Coordinator in the Civil Liberties Committee, was quoted as saying: “we have given notice to the Commission that not all is fine with these Frontex guidelines and it is time for a rethink. We want to ensure that Parliament’s role is defended and that we can have our say. We want these rules to be fair. In their current version they are not.”
Both the LIBE and JURI committees believe that the European Commission exceeded its power when it presented the new Frontex rule under the comitology procedure as opposed to using the ordinary legislative procedure which would have given the Parliament the ability to amend the rule. Malta has strongly objected to provisions within the rule. Malta has said that its decision not to host Frontex’s Central Mediterranean enforcement operation this year, Operation Chronos, was due to the disembarkation provisions contained in the new Frontex rule. Malta believes that the rule would require intercepted migrants to be taken to Malta.
Click here for article.
Click here for statement on MEP Simon Busuttil’s web site.
Click here for EPP Group press release.
Click here and here for earlier posts.
Filed under European Union, Frontex, Judicial, Malta, Mediterranean, News
CARIM just issued a short paper, Libya: The Migration Scene – Which implications for migrants and refugees?: “In the light of UNHCR’s announcement of the 8th of June 2010 that it was requested to close its offices in Libya, CARIM provides an overview of migration developments in Libya from sociopolitical, legal and demographic-economic perspectives.”
Click here for the document.
Filed under Analysis, European Union, Libya, Mediterranean, UNHCR
Amnesty International has released a comprehensive report on Libya entitled “Libya of Tomorrow – What Hope for Human Rights?” The report covers a range of matters including the criminal justice system and the use of the death penalty. Section 5 of the report (beginning at p 91) addresses the rights of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. The report was finalised before the recent decision of the Libyan government to close the UNHCR office in Tripoli.
In regard to refugee issues, Amnesty is very critical of both Libya and the EU and calls upon EU member states to “ensure that any bilateral agreements with Libya in the area of migration and asylum, including the EU-Libya Framework Agreement currently being negotiated, are based on full respect for the rights of asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants.”
Excerpts from Section 5, “Rights of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants”:
Members of the EU have been actively seeking the collaboration of Libya in controlling the flow of migrants to European shores – turning a blind eye to Libya’s dire human rights record, the absence of a functioning asylum system in Libya, and persistent reports of the abuse and ill-treatment of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. The Treaty of Friendship, Partnership and Co-operation signed in August 2008 between Italy and Libya includes provisions for bilateral efforts to combat “illegal migration”, facilitated by the joint patrolling of the sea agreed upon in December 2007 in the “Protocol” and the “Additional Technical-Operational” Protocol”.
As part of the agreements, Italy promised to compensate Libya for its occupation of the country between 1911 and 1943. The Treaty of Friendship, Partnership and Co-operation involves a US$5bn package for construction projects, [and other items]. In return, Libya agreed, among other things, to tighten control of its territorial waters and accept disembarkation on its soil of individuals intercepted at sea by Italian vessels. Italy was also reported to have undertaken to provide resources, including technology, to control migrant flows through the southern borders of Libya. In fact, Italy has provided Libya with six motor patrol boats since the Treaty entered into force.
In the framework of these agreements, from May 2009 onwards Italy started returning refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants intercepted in international waters to Libya. On 6 May 2009, distress calls were sent from three vessels with an estimated 230 third-country nationals on board. Italian coastguard vessels intervened but transported the individuals to Tripoli, without stopping in an Italian port and without checking whether any individuals on board were in need of international protection or basic humanitarian assistance. Further interceptions and returns occurred in the subsequent months: according to official information from the Italian Ambassador to Libya, between 6 May and 3 September 2009, over 1,000 individuals were returned to Libya. They included nationals from Eritrea, Somalia and other sub-Saharan African countries. The Italian Minister of the Interior Roberto Maroni was reported to have called this action “an historic achievement after one year of bilateral negotiations with Libya”….
Despite these pleas by UNHCR and consistent reports of abuses suffered by refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants in Libya, the Italian authorities continue to intercept vessels at sea and send them back to other countries most notably Libya. In January 2010, Italian Minister of the Interior Roberto Maroni stated that the number of migrants arriving to Italian shores was reduced by 74 per cent in 2009 compared to 2008, attributing the reduction to Italy’s bilateral agreements with Libya.
Italy is not alone in seeking Libya’s cooperation to control the flow of migrants to European shores. Negotiations between Libya and the EU over a Framework Agreement started in November 2008 covering the control of migration, among other issues, including potential readmission agreements for third-country nationals who have transited through Libya on their way to Europe….
UNHCR [prior to its recent expulsion from Libya] and its partners have also been involved in screening individuals pushed back to Libya from Italy. UNHCR declared that by October 2009, it had been able to screen 890 people and had registered 206 of them as refugees and secured their release from detention. UNCHR also registered 80 individuals pushed back from Italy in November 2009, granting 40 of them refugee status. The remainder were awaiting their interviews for refugee status determination at the time of writing. UNHCR confirmed that a total of 685 individuals determined to be refugees or asylum-seekers were released from detention from 2008 to February 2010, including 450 Eritreans and 150 Somalis…..
Click here for the Report.
Click here for AI Press Release regarding the Report.
Filed under European Union, Italy, Libya, Mediterranean, Reports, UNHCR
Representatives of the EU and ACP (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific group of states) signed the second revision to the Cotonou Agreement in Ouagadougou on 22 June. The Agreement provides the basic framework for relations between the EU and ACP states. The parties failed to reach agreement on revisions to Article 13, the migration provision.
The EU has been pressuring the ACP states to agree to changes in the Cotonou Agreement which would make it easier for EU member states to return illegal or irregular migrants from the EU to their home countries. ACP states resisted incorporating such a provision in the Agreement, instead wanting to deal with readmission issues on a bi-lateral basis.
As a result of this ongoing disagreement, Article 13 of the Agreement will remain unchanged for the time being. The EU and ACP instead agreed on a Joint Declaration (Declaration III) which was signed yesterday in conjunction with the revised Cotonou Agreement. It reads as follows:
“JOINT DECLARATION ON MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT (ARTICLE 13)
The Parties agree to strengthen and deepen their dialogue and cooperation in the area of migration, building on the following three pillars of a comprehensive and balanced approach to migration:
1. Migration and Development, including issues relating to diasporas, brain drain and remittances;
2. Legal migration including admission, mobility and movement of skills and services; and
3. Illegal migration, including smuggling and trafficking of human beings and border management, as well as readmission.
Without prejudice to the current Article 13, the Parties undertake to work out the details of this enhanced cooperation in the area of migration. They further agree to work towards the timely completion of this dialogue and to report about the progress made to the next ACP-EC Council.”
Click here for the full 2010 amendments to the Cotonou Agreement.
Click here for EU Council Press Release.
Click here for the Secretariat of the ACP States’ web page pertaining to the Cotonou Agreement.
Click here for the EU web page pertaining to the Cotonou Agreement.
Click here, here, and here for previous posts on the Migration provision of the Cotonou Agreement.
Filed under Communiqués, European Union, News
“L’Europe, l’obsession sécuritaire et l’immigration utilitaire – … Les négociations entre l’UE et la Libye semblent suggérer que les Européens sont prêts à aller très loin dans la volonté de faire des Etats du Sud les gendarmes luttant contre l’immigration clandestine. En effet, pour signer un accord d’association comprenant le volet immigration, la Libye exige la fermeture pure et simple du bureau du Haut-Commissariat aux réfugiés (HCR), en plus de moyens financiers supplémentaires et du matériel de surveillance des frontières terrestres et maritimes qui viendront s’ajouter aux nombreux dispositifs de contrôle déjà financés par l’UE dans ce pays depuis le début des années 2000. La politique européenne sur l’immigration inclut également l’ouverture sur le sol libyen de «points d’accueil», qui permettraient aux réfugiés de déposer leur demande d’asile sans prendre le risque d’une traversée de la Méditerranée. Le commissaire en charge des questions d’asile et d’immigration, Jacques Barrot, s’était rendu sur place pour étudier la possibilité d’un tel dispositif…..”
Cliquez ici pour télécharger l’article.
Filed under Algeria, European Union, Libya, Mediterranean, News
CEAR (Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado) has released its 2010 annual report: “La situación de las personas refugiadas en España – INFORME 2010.” The report is 350+ pages long. I will try to review it and do an additional post on some portions of the Report in the coming days.
From CEAR’s web page: “Presentamos el octavo Informe Anual en un momento de grave preocupación por la garantía efectiva del derecho de asilo en España y en el mundo. En el año 2009 poco más de 3.000 personas solicitaron asilo en nuestro país, la cifra más baja desde que se contabilizan estos datos. Por el contrario, las demandas de protección internacional han aumentado en el ámbito de la Unión Europea y otros países industrializados. La pregunta clave es: ¿por qué no llegan refugiados a España? Pregunta que cobra aún más importancia si tenemos en cuenta que la situación en los países de origen de los solicitantes de asilo no ha mejorado, tal y como se analiza a lo largo de este Informe, como la situación de la R.D. Congo, América latina o Sri Lanka. La respuesta a este descenso de las solicitudes de asilo se desvela a lo largo del documento.
La publicación de este Informe Anual coincide con los primeros pasos para la puesta en práctica de la nueva Ley de Asilo, aprobada en octubre de 2009. CEAR volcó todos sus esfuerzos para hacer llegar a los grupos parlamentarios y a la sociedad sus propuestas para fortalecer el derecho de asilo como institución en España.
Uno de los mayores recortes de la nueva ley es la supresión de la vía diplomática para el acceso al asilo, por eso desde estas páginas CEAR realiza un recorrido por las últimas solicitudes por esta vía. También hace especial hincapié en el análisis de las demandas en frontera y de los Centros de Internamiento para Extranjeros (CIE). Por otro lado, la edición del octavo Informe coincide con la Presidencia española de la Unión Europea, por lo que se analizan las líneas políticas de actuación que ya se establecieron en el Pacto Europeo sobre Inmigración y Asilo de 2008. Este Informe presenta un completo recorrido desde la solicitud de asilo hasta la resolución de los casos, acompañado de un completo apéndice estadístico, sin prescindir de todo lo referente a la acogida, integración social e inserción sociolaboral de las personas refugiadas en España.”
Click here for the report (ES).
Filed under Eastern Atlantic, European Union, Mediterranean, Reports, Spain
Speaking at a press conference in Athens earlier this week, Gil Arias Fernandez, Frontex’s deputy executive director, credited the global recession as the key factor in 2009 for the reduced numbers of migrants seeking to enter the EU. He also credited “good collaboration from the African countries where immigrants usually depart[,]” referring to measures taken by Libya, Mauritania and Senegal to prevent migrants from leaving the countries.
Click here and here for articles.
Click here and here for earlier posts on Frontex’s 2009 General Report.
Filed under Data / Stats, European Union, Frontex, Libya, Mauritania, News, Senegal, Statements
The annual UNHCR-NGO consultations will take place beginning 29 June (registration is closed). Various side-meetings will also be held, including one on 1 July: “A hearing on Boat People: Different people, different needs and rights to protection.” Palais des Nations, Geneva, 13h15 – 14h45, Room XXII
“A hearing on Boat People: Different people, different needs and rights to protection.
Brief description: What are the needs of today’s boat people—and how can these needs be differentiated and matched to rights and practical responses of protection and assistance—among boat people arriving in Europe or Yemen from Africa; in the US from Haiti; in various parts of south and southeast Asia and Australia from Burma or Sri Lanka, or following other sea crossings? This session is organized as a hearing, not a series of presentations. It will begin with a brief introduction of the importance of differentiating needs and rights to protection and assistance among all the people arriving, (i.e., refugees, victims of human trafficking and smuggling, victims of torture, children, etc.) Conclusions from an experts roundtable in Tunis last year will then be offered as a reference, which participants will be invited to comment upon and at the end of the session, consider supporting. During the bulk of the session however, panelists from UNHCR, IOM, IFRC and UNODC will serve as a hearing board: listening, probing and recording the experience, concrete practices and recommendations of NGO participants who respond to boat people, either in Europe or in other parts of the world. Input will then be organized and submitted to the international organizations and to government policy makers, including the European Union and Council of Europe through the new EU-funded NGO partnership “DRIVE” (Differentiation for Refugee Identification and Vulnerability Evaluation).”
Click here for full Side Meeting agenda.
Filed under Colloques / Conferences, UNHCR
The seventh round of negotiations on the EU-Libya partnership accord began on 8 June in Tripoli. According to the AFP, EU negotiators hope to have a final agreement with Libya signed by the end of 2010. The current EU delegation is led by Hugo Mingarelli, deputy head of the European Commission for foreign affairs. The negotiations have been slow for a variety of reasons, one of them being disagreement over immigration topics and the reported pressure on Libya by the EU to sign the UN Refugee Convention. (See my previous post on Libya’s sudden decision to close the UNHCR office in Tripoli.)
Click here and here (AR) for articles.
Click here for EC External Relations web page on Libya.
Filed under European Union, Libya, Mediterranean, News
MIGRANTS AT SEA 