Because the parties must commit during the electoral campaign to cancel the Italy-Libya Memorandum on migrants

No about-face.The Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding on migrants renewed for another three years

Update November 2, 2022: In the end there was no about-face.From today, Wednesday 2 November, the Memorandum of Understanding on migration between Italy and Libya will be renewed for another three years.Signed on 2 February 2017, under the Gentiloni government, article 8 provides that the Memorandum is valid for three years and is tacitly renewed upon expiry for an equivalent period, "unless notified in writing by one of the two contracting parties, at least three months before of the expiration of the validity period (November 2 this year, ed.)".First the Draghi executive and now the Meloni executive have not asked to review the agreement.Hence the automatic renewal.

The 2017 Memorandum of Understanding states that Italy is committed to financing reception centers in Libya and the training of Libyan staff.But as Open Migration reconstructs "these 'reception centres' are detention centres, in which migrant women and men are systematically and arbitrarily locked up and the 'Libyan staff' are made up of militias whose methods are based on torture, rape and any other sort of abuse.[…] What is defined as 'Libyan personnel', in addition to the crimes mentioned above, have also been responsible for human trafficking”.

On 27 July, with the vote of the Foreign and Defense Commissions of the Chamber, the parliamentary examination of the resolution of the Council of Ministers relating to theauthorization and extension of international missions. Among those renewed, the most controversial remains the Italian mission in Libya and in particular the cooperation with the so-called Libyan coast guard, accused of very serious violations of human rights. 

Two weeks ago the deputies of the Democratic Party, Italia Viva and Movimento 5 Stelle they didn't vote there card 47 which concerns the "Bilateral assistance mission to the Libyan institutions responsible for controlling the maritime borders".

Three voted no:the Leu group leader Federico Fornaro and the PD deputies Laura Boldrini and Erasmo Palazzotto.According to what declared from Palazzotto “This is a strong signal because the Democratic Party has effectively dissociated itself from making commitments with Libya, a country that has been in chaos for years and does not respect the rights of migrants with serious violations documented by the many organizations operating in the Mediterranean”. For the former deputy from Leu, who moved to the PD a few months ago, it is "an important first step that aims to undermine the inhumane model of externalization of borders with delegation to countries where violations of the most fundamental human rights are daily”.

Some journalists, activists and politicians have, however, questioned the alleged "turning point” of the Democratic Party on Libya.“The major political forces prevented passage into the Chamber, to prevent unapproved and unwelcome critical voices from emerging”, complaint Senator Gregorio De Falco.“In the closed Senate Committees, the approval was voted on Tuesday unanimous It was very formal and everything was over in a quarter of an hour.In the Chamber, a couple of PD deputies voted against (only) ballot 47, the one which provides funds for the training of the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.Unfortunately, this is real smoke and mirrors, since, as the Minister of Defense admitted, that training it is carried out by the Turks since the end of 2020”, reports De Falco.

Finally, the senator points out that "the Democratic Party voted to provide the Libyans with spare parts and maintenance costs for the patrol boats that Italy provided them to capture migrants fleeing by sea from the Libyan Hell [...] I am not happy at all, therefore, about that which is one of the darkest and most shameful days in the recent history of the Italian Republic”.

Even the mobilisations of civil society against the agreements with Libya have collided with the positions of the Democratic Party.The last one a year ago when the secretary Enrico Letta he proposed Of entrust the agreements with the Libyan Coast Guard to the European Union.

For Amnesty International researcher on migration and asylum, Matteo de Bellis, the Democratic secretary's proposal makes one think of "hide your hand after throwing the stone.As far as Amnesty and a large part of civil society are concerned, the interventions carried out in Libya are harmful and this type of solution does not make much sense:if something is wrong you don't do it, you don't make others do it”.de Bellis also recalls that “this year the Italian parliament had planned to commit the government to making a verify across the board with respect to the opportunity of the Italian strategy in Libya.But on this topic we have chosen to discuss some details, while completely maintaining the approach as it was designed in the past and this is insufficient”.

The Turkish desire to “expand your influence” in the North African area, also with important military agreements, has effectively put Italy in a subordinate position.But the loss of the privileged relationship with Tripoli it hasn't stopped our country to continue to "equip the 'Libyan authorities' with supplies worth millions in order to prevent access to protection for thousands of people on the run”.

A radical change in Italian strategy in the North African country at this point would be very difficult also in light of Turkish hegemony.“In the last two years, relations between Italian and Libyan authorities have cooled." de Bellis confirms. “Ankara has taken control of some aspects of the interventions carried out in Libya, taking away from Italy the ability to deal with the training and training of the Libyan forces, from the coast guard to the navy.For this reason the debate on the reduction of the training of the Libyan authorities by the Italian side makes us smile bitterly, since this is the situation that we have already had before our eyes for many months”.

As he explains instead to Blue suitcase Dr. Claudia Lodesani, head of Doctors Without Borders operations in Libya:“It would be truly fundamental for Italy to undertake to cancel all support to the Libyan coast guard and to the maritime authorities involved in the interception and refoulement activities in Libya of people attempting to take to the sea to reach a safe place.This is support that occurs despite repeated evidence of serious violations of human rights.Since 2017, the year the Italian government signed the Memorandum with Libya we witness the intervention of the Libyan Coast Guard, ffinanced and trained with Italian resources and the EU, which carries out rejections. To date over 80 thousand people have been returned to official detention centers and, above all, to those not managed by the Libyan government but directly by the militias.In the first 6 months of 2022 alone, over 9,000 violent pushbacks were recorded, returning people to illegal detention in refugee centers. Zawiya”, says Lodesani.

But the political will to prevent migrants and asylum seekers from arriving on European shores at all costs still pushes Italy and the European Union to look the other way when it comes to violations of human rights, as demonstrated by various reports.Another dossier drawn up by United Nations investigators reveals "the existence of not one but at least four 'coast guards', each linked to a different ministry and different godfathers, in armed conflict with each other".A situation that makes it even more difficult "to identify the Libyan maritime agencies that have put migrants and asylum seekers at real risk of serious human rights violations". 

“The situation of migrants and refugees in Libya inside and outside detention centers is well known and documented by international organizations and reports from United Nations agencies”, reiterates Lodesani.“There is constant exposure to the risk of arbitrary detention, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, killings, forced labor, sexual violence, exploitation, denial of essential medical care, trafficking and kidnapping.In some of the centers visited by the Doctors Without Borders teams, people live in cramped, dark cells in overcrowded conditions (more than 3 people per square meter), without windows or natural light, and in very poor hygienic conditions.Access to water and food is also poor.Treatments administered by MSF are frequent for violence and mistreatment, as a result of beatings, including fractures, stab wounds, abrasions and blunt force trauma.And the situation is no better for the vast majority of refugees and migrants who live outside detention centres, continually subject to the risk of mass arrests, kidnappings, trafficking, exploitation, slavery and violence of all kinds at the hands of militias.In these conditions it is clear that the lack of legal status, and the consequent absence of protection and assistance, expose migrants and refugees present in Libya to a spiral of violence and abuse from which it is difficult to escape and free oneself.They cannot stay in the country which is not safe for them and so they try to cross.But when they are intercepted by the Coast Guard also financed by our government, they are taken back to detention centers or released into the community, where they are exposed to violence and abuse.For those who manage to escape, the sea, with its uncertainty, remains the only way to find a safe place”, he concludes.

The 2017 Memorandum of Understanding states that Italy is committed to financing reception centers in Libya and the training of Libyan staff.But how does he rebuild? Open Migration “Such 'reception centres' are detention centres, where migrant women and men are systematically and arbitrarily locked up and the 'Libyan staff' are made up of militias whose methods are based on torture, rape and all other sorts of abuse.[…] What is defined as 'Libyan personnel', in addition to the crimes mentioned above, have also been responsible for human trafficking”.

The Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya will expire in February 2023, but will be automatically renewed for another three years if the Italian authorities do not cancel it by 2 November 2022, a few weeks after the first meeting of the new Chambers scheduled for October 13th.

The Asylum and Immigration Roundtable, after the joint Foreign Affairs and Defense Commissions voted on the mission decree renewing support for the so-called Libyan coastguards, issued a statement to denounce this "serious choice" and launch a mobilization to avoid the renewal of the Memorandum:

“To date, between January and July 2022, 180 migrants have lost their lives in the Mediterranean and 648 are missing, while the migrants intercepted and returned to Libya are 11,057, including 422 minors.Authoritative international bodies from the United Nations and Europe have repeatedly confirmed what is visible to all:Crimes against humanity are committed in Libya, and support for the so-called Libyan coast guard and authorities recognized by the international community increases these crimes, as well as fueling internal conflict and delaying the peace process.The Italian Parliament has missed yet another opportunity to erase the shame of torture, rape and widespread violence perpetrated with Italian and European resources, in our name.[…] Starting from September, the Asylum and Immigration Roundtable will promote a mobilization to draw the attention of political forces to the need to abolish the Italy-Libya Memorandum and therefore to intervene before next November 2nd, to prevent the continuation of support violence against those who, from Libya, are only trying to leave and save themselves from conditions of poverty or repression”.

Preview image:Libyan coast guard patrol boat in action – Sea Watch video frame via Twitter