Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) calls for an end to the arbitrary detention of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants in Libya after a dramatic increase in the number of people intercepted by the EU-supported Libyan coastguard in the Mediterranean and disembarked in Libya.
The European Union’s obstruction of nongovernmental rescues and handover of responsibility to Libyan coast guard forces is a recipe for even greater loss of life in the Mediterranean and a continuing cycle of abuse for people trapped in Libya, Human Rights Watch said today.
The European Union’s migrant strategy has suffered a major setback with Italy refusing to freely accept people rescued at sea and Libya spurning a proposal for asylum processing centres.
Libya’s prime minister said Friday he would not allow the EU to set up asylum processing centres in his country, in a new setback for European leaders seeking to curb new migrant arrivals.
Head of Libya’s Presidency Council, Faiez Serraj, called on the international community to present a unified stance towards Libya, to push for early elections and to push the House of Representatives to stop obstructing the political process.
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) has recorded a drop in the number of migrants to Italy crossing the Mediterranean last June to 3 thousand migrants, which represents a decline of 87% compared to the same month last year.
Last month, I visited a detention centre in Tripoli where the International Rescue Committee provides health services to migrants who have been detained by the Libyan authorities.
Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, has visited Libya’s capital, Tripoli, to reopen the bloc’s diplomatic presence and border assistance mission.
Leader of the Italian conservative party Fratelli d’Italia “Brothers of Italy” Giorgia Meloni has urged for a naval blockade on Libya to stop immigration boats from heading to European southern coasts.
The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously to authorize the European Union’s maritime force to enforce an arms embargo on the high seas off the coast of Libya for another year.
