European Interest

No repatriations by EU to Libya

Flickr/IFRCRC/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Catania, Sicily, April 23 2015.

The European Union will never send migrants back to Libya because of the inhumane conditions in Libyan migrant detention centres. So said the European Commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud on July 2.

“There will never be repatriations by the EU to Libya or European ships sending migrants back to Libya,” she said. “That is against our values, international law and European law. We are well aware of the inhumane situation for many migrants in Libya.”

The United Nations is working to improve their conditions, and there is a mechanism of urgent transit, to evacuate these persons from Libya,” said Bertaud.

Last week there were media reports that the EU was planning to establish screening centres in Libya, Niger, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and possibly Albania. Called “regional disembarkation platforms” the idea is widely supported by Italy and France.

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