Libya’s hidden asylum detainees

By David Cronin

Date: 28/04/05

Immigrants are being locked up arbitrarily in Libya, a study by the European Commission will reveal.

Officials working for the EU executive drew up their report following an inspection visit to Libya last year.

In discussions with immigrants held in camps in the north of the country, they found persistent complaints about the arbitrary nature of detention. When detainees were able to speak without a prison guard overhearing them, they expressed incomprehension at the reasons for being locked up. "None of the detainees knew what the maximum duration in the centres was nor had any information on the legal procedures and conditions for repatriation," the report said.

Poor conditions were also discovered in other centres. At Sulmam, also in northern Libya, 200 migrants had to sleep on the floor as there were no beds in the camp.

Muammar Gaddafi's regime has not signed up to the 1951 Geneva Convention, the cornerstone of international law on refugee protection. The Commission's report notes that Libya seems reluctant to recognise that some of its migrants could meet the criteria for being granted refugee status "given their serious concern that the introduction of a legal and formal distinction between asylum seekers and economic migrants would result in an unmanageable situation".

Because it has a higher average income than other African states, oil-rich Libya is one of the main destination countries for migrants in that continent, particularly from poorer sub-Saharan countries. Precise data on the number of non-nationals in Libya are unavailable but the government estimates the number of foreign workers there legally at around 600,000, while the number there without permission could be 1.2 million.

Each year up to 100,000 foreigners enter Libya, with thousands of those then travelling on to Europe, primarily to Italy and Malta. Last month, Italy forcibly returned to Libya 180 migrants, who had landed on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. Last year Italy's then Europe minister unveiled a plan for EU-backed "migrant reception centres" inside Libya. Rocco Buttiglione suggested that the camps would give migrants humanitarian aid and information on what barriers and opportunities they faced in seeking work in Europe. But the proposal has not gained much support from other EU countries. Some pro-refugee groups have argued that, if implemented, it could lead to "concentration camps" in the desert.

The Commission's report recommends starting EU-Libya talks on an action plan on asylum and immigration, with a special focus on managing the country's porous borders. Italy and Malta are the only two EU states to have structured co-operation with the Libyans on these questions.

Human rights advocates have urged a halt to the deportation of migrants to Libya, with Amnesty International arguing this might breach United Nations law, as well as running the risk that migrants will then be sent back to their home countries and face torture or jail.

A spokesman for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) voiced concern about a potential EU-Libya accord on migration. The two sides, he said, are not operating from a "common base" from a legal standpoint, given that Libya has not adhered to the 1951 Convention.

Although the UNHCR has an office in Tripoli, the authorities have declined to give it a role in handling the country's asylum and immigration situation.

Preview of a European Commission report on conditions of immigrant and refugee reception in Libya, following an inspection visit by Commission officials to the country in 2004. The visitors encountered poor conditions in detention centres and witnessed arbitrary detention. Libya has not signed up to the 1951 Geneva Convention, the cornerstone of international law on refugee protection, but the European Union is increasingly interested in coming to an agreement with the country that serves as a major transit route for migrants to the EU's territory.

• Prif ffynhonnell

EU: EEAS: EU Relations with Libya http://eeas.europa.eu/libya/index_en.htm

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