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Migrants At Sea | 30.01.2018

“It is not possible to provide meaningful medical care in a system of arbitrary detention that causes harm and suffering.”

by Niels Frenzen

Some key points:

• The number of detainees [in Libyan detention centres] went down in December [2017] when thousands of people were mass repatriated to their countries of origin by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
• The majority of physical and mental health problems requiring medical assistance still directly relate to the substandard conditions of detention.
• It is not possible to provide meaningful medical care in a system of arbitrary detention that causes harm and suffering.
• Italian ships have been deployed in Libyan territorial waters as part of a broader European strategy to seal off the coast of Libya and “contain” refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants in a country where they are exposed to extreme and widespread violence and exploitation.
• The MSF team onboard Aquarius witnessed refugees and migrants aboard unseaworthy vessels being intercepted by the Libyan Coastguard in international waters as EU military assets at the scene looked on.
• Although these interceptions are presented as “rescue operations” and are celebrated by the Libyan Coastguard and their EU partners, the reality is that migrants and refugees are not being returned to a port of safety.
• [T]here are several entities operating along Libya’s vast coastline that claim to be the Libyan Coastguard. Contact points on land and at sea were unclear, as was the chain of command.

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