Migrant talks with Libya in the balance

Date: 26/05/05

EU justice ministers will next week assess whether talks can begin with Libya on managing migratory flows between Africa and Europe.

While there is a desire by many EU states for joint co-operation on asylum and immigration issues with the Tripoli authorities - particularly with the large numbers travelling from Libya to Italy and Malta - the question is both politically and legally fraught.

The Union does not have a structured dialogue with Libya - an international pariah until its vow to renounce weapons of mass destruction in late 2003. Libya has also not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, the cornerstone of international law on asylum. And it has declined to give the UN High Commission for Refugees a role in its asylum system.

Furthermore, the EU is in dispute with Libya over the death sentence imposed on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor over a HIV infection scandal in Benghazi children's hospital during the late 1990s. Despite the widespread feeling in Bulgaria that the six have been convicted on trumped-up charges, there is a deep public anger at the disease outbreak in Libya.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European commissioner for external relations, returned yesterday (25 May) from a two-day visit to Libya , during which she held discussions with President Muammar Gaddafi.

Speaking on her return, Ferrero-Waldner said that she wished to see the prisoners released, citing concerns about the reliability of the evidence on which they were convicted. The six, she added, appeared to be in good physical health, though under psychological strain, when she visited them.

Amnesty International this week said that the EU must pay heed to the human rights principles of the Barcelona Process of deepening economic and political ties with the Mediterranean region in any dialogue with Libya. "If Libya is to be eventually part of the Barcelona Process, then there is a certain human rights conditionality built into it, which the EU cannot ignore," said Dick Oosting, director of Amnesty's Brussels office.

Article anticipates a decision at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 2-3 June 2005 whether the EU should take up a structured dialogue with Libya on managing migratory flows between Africa and Europe. European Commissioner for External Affairs and the Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, held discussions with President Muammar Gaddafi on a two-day visit to Libya, 24-25 May 2005.

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

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