By Robin Millard
The United Nations urged Libya and the EU to overhaul their search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea, saying current practices robbed migrants of their lives, rights and dignity. A UN Human Rights Office report on SAR operations and the protection of migrants in the central Mediterranean found that policies and practices “fail to prioritise the lives, safety and human rights of people attempting to cross from Africa to Europe.
The report, released Wednesday, said evidence suggested that the lack of human rights protections was “not a tragic anomaly, but rather a consequence of concrete policy decisions and practices by the Libyan authorities, the European Union member states and institutions, and other actors”.
The 37-page report, entitled “‘Lethal Disregard’: Search and rescue and the protection of migrants in the central Mediterranean Sea”, covers the period from January 2019 to December 2020. It concluded that Libya was not a safe place for the disembarkation of migrants rescued at sea. It said current SAR policies and practices in the central Mediterranean enable violations and abuses against migrants more so than ending them.
Suffering preventable
Responding to the report, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on Tripoli and Brussels to urgently reform their SAR policies. “The real tragedy is that so much of the suffering and death along the central Mediterranean route is preventable,” the former Chilean president said. “Every year, people drown because help comes too late, or never comes at all. “Those who are rescued are sometimes forced to wait for days or weeks to be safely disembarked or, as has increasingly been the case, are returned to Libya which, as has been stressed on countless occasions, is not a safe harbour due to the cycle of violence,” she added.
The report said EU states had slashed their SAR operations, while humanitarian organisations have been obstructed from conducting rescues. It added that private vessels increasingly avoid helping migrants in distress due to stand-offs over disembarkation. It said Europe had encouraged the Libyans to take on more SAR duties.
In 2020, at least 10,352 migrants were intercepted by the Libyan coast guard and returned to Libya, compared to at least 8,403 in 2019. However, when migrants are returned to Libya, they face a range of serious human rights violations and abuses, the report said. “No-one should feel compelled to risk their lives, or those of their families, on unseaworthy boats in search of safety and dignity,” said Bachelet. “But the answer cannot be simply preventing departures from Libya or making the journeys more desperate and dangerous. “Until there are sufficient safe, accessible and regular migration channels, people will continue to try to cross the central Mediterranean, no matter what the dangers or consequences.”
