Drop in EU migrations, abuse in centres rife
Italy faces backlash, Libya security fragile
THE ABUSE of African migrants in Libyan detention centres and the high numbers of refugees who drown at sea as they try the perilous crossing across the Mediterranean to Europe continue to make headlines and provoke international outrage.
The relatively good news is that there has been a decline in the number of attempted crossings and the UN and some African states are stepping in to repatriate migrants from Tripoli.
However, future developments depend strongly on the behaviour of Libya’s notoriously influential militias, which have a history of relying on human trafficking and other illicit business dealings for their income, as well as the internal politics of both Libya and Italy.
Over the past few days, 50 people, mostly African migrants, were reported drowned and 100 missing, following a shipwreck off the Libyan coast – the latest of many such tragedies. On Sunday, the Libyan navy said it had rescued 272 migrants trying to reach southern Europe.
The UN’s International Organisation of Migration estimated that over 171 300 migrants entered Europe last year, compared with a little over 363 500 in 2016.
A down-tick in the number of Africans trying to reach Europe followed the February 2017 Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya’s UN-sanctioned Government of National Accord.
“Rome pledged training, equipment and investment to help the Tripoli government improve border security and combat the smuggling of people.
“It engaged local government in smuggling hubs, promising investment in return for help with migration control,” stated an article by Mark Micallef and Tuesday Reitano, from the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, and senior research consultants at Pretoria’s Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
Italy, which has borne the brunt of the burden, needed to take political action to prevent a backlash by its electorate as returning the migrants to Libya was not an option after it was declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in 2012.
Italy’s political considerations have tied in with the ambitions of the various Libyan militias controlling large swathes of the country in the absence of one central functioning government.
After the fall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, militias had created a protection market around human smuggling and, in some cases, thad taken over the business, said Micallef and Reitano. “The industry is interdependent with other illicit trade as militias and smuggling kingpins exploit the full smorgasbord of smuggling markets, from fuel to people, drugs and weapons.
“However, after threats of International Criminal Court indictments, there is no greater liability than being labelled a human smuggler or terrorist. Militia leaders want to be on the right side of important brokers and donors and they found an opportunity in Italy’s migrant crisis.”
But rights groups fear the measures could leave tens of thousands of migrants stranded. Survivors have recounted starving in Libyan detention centres and other abuses. Large parts of the coastguard, detention centres, and key branches of its fragile security apparatus are controlled by militias.