EU Mediterranean Operations Put Asylum-Seekers at Risk of Abuse in Libya

HRW associate director for Europe and Central Asia, Judith Sunderland stated that the European Union is putting asylum-seekers at risk of harm by allowing Libyan naval forces to intercept migrant boats in the Mediterranean Sea.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The European Union is putting asylum-seekers at risk of harm by allowing Libyan naval forces to intercept migrant boats in the Mediterranean Sea, the rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The EU isn’t sending people back to Libya, knowing that’s unlawful, so it wants to outsource the dirty work to Libyan forces," HRW associate director for Europe and Central Asia, Judith Sunderland stated. "The EU — soon perhaps with NATO’s help — is basically deputizing Libyan forces to help seal Europe’s border."

The European Union is set to discuss NATO participation in the operation at the upcoming summit in Warsaw, Poland on July 8 and 9.

Last month, the EU extended its anti-trafficking operation to include training Libyan coast guard and naval forces in the Mediterranean, the rights group explained. Libyan vessels are intercepting asylum-seekers at sea and forcibly returning them to Libya.

HRW has documented cases of abuse, torture, rape and killings in detention centers where people intercepted at sea by the Libyan Coast Guard are detained.

If the migrant boats reach Europe, international law prohibits EU nations from repatriating asylum-seekers to Libya because the country is considered unsafe.