The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, on Thursday issued a ruling obliging Italy to pay compensation to 4 Tunisian refugees rescued at sea and transferred to the island of Lampedusa, and then deported to their country.
The court said Italy had violated the European Convention on Human Rights on the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment of persons, the prohibition of collective expulsion of aliens, and the right to liberty and security.
The court found that the four plaintiffs left Tunisia on the October 2017 boat, before they encountered problems at sea and were rescued by an Italian ship that took them to Lampedusa. "They were placed there for 10 days, claiming that during that period they were unable to leave and deal with the authorities, and claiming that the conditions there were inhumane and degrading," the court said.
The four, along with 40 others, were transferred later that month to the island's airport, where they were handed documents they did not understand to sign. They turned out to be police refusal of entry.
Prosecutors said they were then flown to Palermo airport in Sicily, and then forcibly deported to Tunisia.
The court ordered Italy to pay each plaintiff 8500,9300 euros ($4,<>), plus expenses of <>,<> euros.
The European Court of Human Rights confirmed that the Italian government had not objected to accusations regarding the living conditions and treatment of migrants in Lampedusa, which were "confirmed by independent national and international sources".
Inhumane treatment
On the other hand, the Committee against Torture (another body of the Council of Europe) called on countries to put an end to returns at land or sea borders, especially at the external borders of the European Union, citing "illegal and unacceptable" pushbacks.
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (ECT) President Alan Mitchell said: "A large number of European countries face very complex migration issues at their borders, but that does not mean they can ignore their human rights obligations." "These illegal and unacceptable expulsions must stop."
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture said it had visited police, border or coastguard posts, detention centres and transit areas "along the main migration routes to Europe" (the Western Balkans and the Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean routes).
"When arrested or deported, foreign nationals are beaten – punched, slapped, beaten with batons or other hard or illegal objects (...) - from the police or border guards."
He condemned "other forms of inhuman or degrading treatment (...) , such as shooting near people when they lie on the ground, pushing them into rivers (sometimes handcuffed), stripping them naked (...) In some cases, they are sent completely naked across the border."