A group of 31 international human rights organizations on July 17 called on the EU and its member states to end their cooperation with Libyan authorities on migration control. The groups expressed alarm at plans to strengthen cooperation with the rival authorities in Eastern and Western Libya, which both have a longstanding record of grave rights abuses against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.
In their joint statement, the organizations highlighted that they have consistently expresseddeep concern over collaboration between EU member states and Libyan authorities. Assistance from the EU has facilitated the interception and forced return of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants annually to Libya, where they have faced abuses including indefinite arbitrary detention in cruel and inhumane conditions, unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment, sexual violence, extortion and forced labor.
The rights groups released their statement in the context of heightened cooperation between the EU and Libyan authorities. The NGO Statewatch recently leaked documents dated May 20 that detail how the EU has been collaborating with Libya’s Eastern Forces. The collaboration includes training, technical support and the development of a regional migration control center based in Benghazi. The EU has confirmed plans to establish a “Maritime Rescue Coordination Center” in Benghazi and a surveillance tower with radar in Tobruk, both cities in Eastern Libya controlled by the Libyan Arab Armed Forces. The plan appears to be modelled on a similar 2017 initiative struck with the Western-based government.
Since the NATO intervention in Libya in 2011 and the death of the longtime leader Moammar Qaddafi, Libya has become a hotspot for human trafficking. The grim situation is illustrated the repeated discovery of mass graves, most recently in January. The UN has appealed to the EU on the need for life-saving search and rescue operations at sea, and the suspension of interceptions and returns to Libya, among other remedial directives.
Signatories to the joint statement include Amnesty International, EuroMed Rights, Human Rights Watch, Refugees in Libya and Sea-Watch, among others.
From JURIST, July 19. Used with permission. Internal links added.
