At the EU Council summit in Valletta, Malta, European Union leaders agreed on a new plan to increase its cooperation with Libya in order to stem the flow of migrants coming from the North African country last week Friday, 6 February 2017.
The released declaration states that the Libyan national coast guard will receive support in training and equipment. Under the second package of the SOPHIA Operation it is stated that the capabilities of the coast guard shall be enhanced and the business model of smugglers and human traffickers in Libya shall be disrupted.
The plan states further that the “objectives shall be underpinned by the necessary resources.” Financial support will be granted to Libya by partly using funds from Official Development Assistance for Africa and partly from the EU Trust Fund for Africa as well as by means of other Member States’ contributions. An additional €200 million will be provided for Libya “to cover the most urgent funding needs for the North Africa window” and to give priority to migration-related projects concerning Libya.
The meeting confirmed the outcome that was predicted by the media and foreseen by many concerned European Parliament Members as another migration compact similar to the EU-Turkey deal. Although the agreement has a different title this time, it is seen as equally controversial by its critics and it has the same aim of stemming migration flows to Europe.
In a joint statement by UNHCR and IOM on 2 February, both organisations warned of the security constraints that continue to hinder humanitarian work in Libya and that it is currently “not appropriate to consider Libya a safe third country nor to establish extraterritorial processing of asylum-seekers in North Africa.” Newly released testimonies by SOS Mediterranee present insightful views of the inhumane treatment experienced by many refugees in the fragile state of Libya.
This was also confirmed by the UN report last December. The report, entitled Detained and Dehumanised: Report on Human Rights Abuses against Migrants in Libya concludes that the situation in Libya constitutes a “human rights crises” where migrants are subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, other ill-treatment, unlawful killings and sexual exploitation. This was again emphasised in a statement Zainab Bangura, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, this week. Bangura voiced increasing concern about the sexual violence in official and unofficial detention centres in Libya and reiterated the recommendation of the Secretary-General that all countries give due consideration to recognising conflict-related sexual violence as a form of persecution that warrants refugee status.
Despite the concerns, the European Council kept its reference to ensuring adequate reception facilities in Libya relatively open. It refers to “seeking to ensure adequate reception capacities and conditions in Libya for migrants, together with the UNHCR and IOM” in its action plan, without details as to how or when the facilities would be improved.
Sophia Wirsching, an expert on Migration and Development from the German NGO Bread for the World criticised in an interview that the EU outsources the protection of refugees to countries that are clearly unable to provide protection. This is in stark contradiction with the principles on human rights to which the EU is bound.
Nevertheless, in an official statement from the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, 6 February 2016, High Representative Frederica Mogherini justified the action by stating that cooperation was needed for the purpose of saving lives in Libya and for dismantling the trafficker’s networks. Mogherini admits that “the human rights situation in the camps in Libya is awful”. This cannot be ignored and that is why cooperation with the Libyan authorities needs to ensured in order to bring the IOM and the UNHCR into the camps and save peoples’ lives.
In the same meeting Federica Mogherini stated that there will be increased engagement with Egypt as a key regional player in the sector of counter-terrorism and migration.