By RFPosted on 25-04-2019Modified on 25-04-2019 at 22:59

Last February, the Minister of Armies Florence Parly announced the delivery to Libya of six boats as part of the French support "to the efforts of the Libyan navy to fight against illegal immigration," said the ministry. Eight international NGOs, including Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, filed an urgent summons on Thursday (25 April) to suspend delivery of the boats, pending a final ruling by the court on the legality of the delivery.

For NGOs, this delivery of boats is illegal with regard to the international commitments made by France.

Their argument is the following. First point: even if these boats are provided without weapons, they are considered as war material by French law, just because they were designed for military use.

By delivering them, France therefore violates the UN and European embargo on military equipment bound for Libya , say the NGOs.

Second point: France has ratified a treaty on arms trade, which requires it not to transfer military equipment that would violate international law.

Yet, NGOs point out, many human rights violations against migrants have been documented in Libya, whether committed at sea by some coastguards or ashore, in detention centers.

To provide these boats would therefore be for France to be complicit in these violations and to engage its responsibility " for an internationally wrongful act ", plead these organizations.

That's it, you know now why we are attacking the state in justice. #OnAttackEnJustice: Defend Human Rights https://t.co/IM7B5xWAKW

Amnesty International (@amnestyfrance) 25 April 2019

The court must first say whether it validates or rejects the action pending suspension of the delivery filed before it, before possibly issuing an opinion. This first phase should take less than 3 weeks. The deliberation on the legality of the delivery could last for months.

France is complicit in crimes ...

Michael Neuman, Study Director at Doctors Without Borders.

25-04-2019 - By Laura Martel

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