Refoulement of migrants off Malta landed in Libya

Text by: RFI Follow

After a few weeks when attempts to cross the Mediterranean had become rarer, more than 400 people were intercepted at sea off Libya during the past weekend and returned to Tripoli, according to the International Organization and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Interceptions that are made openly and in violation of international law, denounce the NGOs.

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The NGO AlarmPhone runs an alert system for ships in distress and on Saturday afternoon, it is from GPS coordinates located in Maltese territorial waters that it receives a call from 49 people lost in the open sea, including one pregnant woman and three children, left the day before from Tripoli on a makeshift boat.

AlarmPhone then alerts the Maltese authorities and the European agency Frontex. But a few hours later, the boat is intercepted by the Libyan coast guards and passengers forcibly landed in Tripoli, where some escape and others are beaten and then detained, according to their relatives.

On Monday, the IOM took stock of the weekend at sea: aboard five boats, 406 people, said the organization, " fleeing violence and disastrous living conditions ", were sent back to Tripoli, " where there are serious concerns about their safety . ”

According to a humanitarian who recently visited Libya, " this mechanism is now an accepted rule, despite the repeated violation of international law ". On the side of the UNHCR, we are content to confirm the return of 406 people " to a country at war (...) at the risk of arbitrary detentions and abuse ", but without specifying where they were intercepted.

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• Libya
• International Migration

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