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Pushbacks to Libya

ECRE Actions

29 June 2009
Putting protection back at the heart of EU asylum policy - Memorandum to the Swedish Presidency

17 June 2009
EU shouldn’t shift its responsibility for refugees to Africa

3 June 2009
ECRE Press Briefing 

3 June 2009
Ministers must ensure respect for the right to seek asylum in Europe

2 June 2009
Guaranteeing refugee protection and safeguarding respect for fundamental rights - Memorandum to the JHA Council

14 May 2009
Open Letter to the Vice President of the EU Commission, Jacques Barrot by Pro Asyl

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ECRE is deeply concerned that the Italian policy of pushing back migrants seized in international waters to Libya constitutes a serious breach of Italy's obligations under international human rights law, in particular the 1951 Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Since May, more than 1,000 migrants, including pregnant women and children, have been intercepted by the Italian coast guard and forcibly returned to Libya without an assessment of their need for protection. The Italian government claims that this push-back policy is in full compliance with international conventions in force, in particular with regard to the protection of persons seeking asylum. According to media reports, the Home Affairs Minister, Roberto Maroni, has expressed its intention to maintain the deportations ‘in the interest of both Italy and the European Union'. He informed that between 1st May and 31st August this year, Italy registered 1,300 arrivals by sea, compared to 14,000 in 2008.

These figures should not conceal the fact that there are persons fleeing persecution among those travelling by sea. According to UNHCR, last year approximately 75% of the persons landing in Italy submitted an asylum claim and around 50% of them were granted protection. Yet, there is evidence that the Italian coast guard makes no effort to determine the nationality and reasons for fleeing of the persons intercepted. States have a legitimate right to control their borders. However, forcibly returning people to countries where they may face serious violations of their human rights and be pushed back into the hands of their persecutors does violate international human rights and refugee law

UNHCR has been clear that Libya cannot guarantee effective protection to refugees. Libya is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not have an asylum procedure or a system for refugee protection. In Libya, people seeking protection are often detained, sometimes for long periods of time, in deplorable conditions. A recent report by Human Rights Watch also illustrates the brutal treatment suffered by migrants at the hands of police officials both inside and outside detention centres.

ECRE has consistently stressed that Member States' obligations under international and European refugee and human rights law do not stop at the physical boundaries of the EU. This responsibility is not only moral and political but also legal. EU Member States cannot abdicate their principles, values and commitments by doing outside their borders what would not be permissible in their territories. Furthermore, the obligation of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning refugees to countries where they may face persecution or inhuman or degrading treament, does not arise only when a refugee is within or at the borders of a state but also when a refugee is under its effective or de facto jurisdiction outside its territory, including in international waters as well as in the territorial waters of another state.