Today Amnesty International has published the briefing Between the devil and the deep blue sea: Europe fails refugees and migrants in the Central Mediterranean, which documents how the number of people drowning in the Central Mediterranean or being taken back to squalid detention centres in Libya has surged as a result of European policies aimed at closing the central Mediterranean route. It highlights how Italian policies have left people stranded at sea for days and analyses how European Union (EU) countries are conspiring to contain refugees and migrants in Libya, where they are exposed to torture and abuse.