Migrants, Italy will continue to fund the Libyan coastguard
Rights — di Simone Santi
The Italian Parliament has voted to refinance the Libyan coastguard, despite suspicions of abuses against migrants. NGOs protest.
Migrants, Italy will continue to fund the Libyan coastguard
The Italian Parliament has voted to refinance the Libyan coastguard, despite suspicions of abuses against migrants. NGOs protest.
The Italian Parliament has decided to continue funding the Libyan coastguard for the coming year as well, the body tasked with intercepting migrants aboard boats headed for the southern coasts of our country. This is a decision that has drawn criticism from many humanitarian organisations and also from a section of the governing majority itself, owing to the numerous human rights violations perpetrated by Libyan militias, now well documented by both the United Nations and journalistic investigations.
The provision authorising the refinancing is contained within the broader decreto missioni approved last 16 July, which gathers the spending authorisations for all the missions in which the Italian military is currently involved. Among these is the logistical support that Italy has been providing to Libya since 2017 under the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the then Libyan government with the then Interior Minister Marco Minniti.
What has changed since 2017
When the agreement was signed in 2017, the Italian government, under pressure from a sharp increase in arrivals, intended to entrust the management of reception camps in Libya — the country where migrants from across Africa converge before attempting the crossing to Italy — to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). It also sought to strengthen coastal patrols directly in Libyan waters, as a deterrent to departures.
In the meantime, however, political conditions in Libya have changed markedly, and for the worse: in 2017, President Fayez Al Serraj headed a national unity government that had been in place for just over a year and appeared capable of controlling a large part of Libya's vast territory, despite the presence of numerous tribes and local administrations.
For over a year now, the country has been gripped by a civil war that severely limits the official government's power, leaving it in control of practically nothing beyond the capital Tripoli. So much so that the local authorities themselves ended up declaring Libya an "unsafe port."
What does the funding granted to the Libyan coastguard consist of?
The Memorandum, like the decree approved in recent days, does not specify the exact amount of Italian funding to the Libyan coastguard, primarily because rather than direct funds it in fact involves "logistical support, the supply of equipment, subsidies to non-governmental organisations operating on the ground (very few) and funds to IOM. For instance, last November Italy provided Libya free of charge with ten patrol vessels, with a market value of 2.5 million euros. And for 2020, 10 million euros are earmarked for the training of Libyan military personnel.
According to the Euronews portal, in any case, Italy is said to have spent almost 500 million euros in two years: but the very lack of financial accountability is one of the many reasons why the Memorandum is contested. An appeal by the Associazione studi giuridici sull'immigrazione, which considered the free transfer of patrol vessels to Libya incompatible with any form of international cooperation, was rejected by the Tar del Lazio, which instead deemed the document a legitimate form of cooperation.
Il governo ha confermato il rifinanziamento della cosiddetta guardia costiera libica nella piena consapevolezza di continuare a rendersi complice di un sistema di torture e violazioni dei diritti umani j.mp/3jv97Xh #Libia
The amendments to the memorandum on migrants
For about a year now, since Italy shifted the axis of its government last summer, the majority has been questioning the need, at the very least, to revise the terms of the agreement with Libya. All the more so given that, last 16 July, the decision to refinance the Libyan coastguard provoked discontent among 23 members of parliament from all the parties currently in government (just over 5 per cent of the majority in the Chamber), who tabled a motion against it, calling instead for a halt to cooperation with Tripoli in the management of migration flows. The MPs stressed that "the condition of tens of thousands of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants remains dramatic: exposed to arbitrary arrest and kidnapping at the hands of militias and regularly falling victim to human traffickers and abuses of power by criminal groups colluding with the authorities."
A chi diamo le nostre motovedette?
Chi stiamo addestrando?Coloro che trafficano esseri umani?
Inaccettabile.
Ho votato contro il rifinanziamento della Guardia Costiera libica: non sarò complice di chi non ha rispetto della dignità delle persone.
E non può esserlo l'Italia.
#Libia
Chi stiamo addestrando?Coloro che trafficano esseri umani?
Inaccettabile.
Ho votato contro il rifinanziamento della Guardia Costiera libica: non sarò complice di chi non ha rispetto della dignità delle persone.
E non può esserlo l'Italia.
#Libia
The text, rejected by the Chamber, added that "the deterioration of the conflict has exposed them to ever greater risks; the Libyan authorities continue to illegally detain thousands of people who are subjected to exploitation, forced labour, torture and other forms of violence, including sexual violence, often for the purpose of extorting money from their families in exchange for their release; detainees in the centres live in inhumane conditions, with overcrowding and a lack of food, water and medical care; the centres are regularly repopulated."
The day of 16 July had two sides to it, however: while Parliament was voting on the refinancing, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese was meeting in Tripoli with President Serraj and many of the Libyan ministers. On that occasion she reiterated that the management of border controls and irregular migration flows must always take place "in full respect of human rights and the safeguarding of lives at sea and on land." The minister therefore reiterated, according to information released by the Viminale following the meeting, the need to activate evacuation operations for migrants held in centres managed by the Libyan Government through humanitarian corridors organised by the European Union and run by the UN agencies, namely IOM and UNHCR. A first step, the government assures, towards the revision of the memorandum.