Children killed on the beaches of Libya: the UN and the EU are responsible for the lack of protection of migrants
The European Union and Libya are responsible for the fact that migrants and refugees crossing the central Mediterranean are unprotected, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said today, calling on governments to reverse decisions that have caused a decrease in search and rescue operations on that migratory route.
According to Bachelet, the absence of protection for those who jump into the sea with the desire to reach Europe “is not a tragic anomaly, but the consequence of decisions and specific practices of the Lebanese authorities, the Member States and the institutions of the European Union, and other actors who have jointly created an environment that puts the dignity and human rights of migrants at risk”.
On the central Mediterranean route alone, 632 people have died this year alone despite the fact that the total number of arrivals in Europe has decreased remarkably-
Many of these victims are children.. Just yesterday, several freelance journalists as well as human rights activists shared harsh images on social networks showing the corpses of several minors, dragged by the force of the sea to Zuwara beach, in Libya.
The Italian journalist Nancy Porsi, an expert in migration crises, shared some images in which the bodies of at least two children have been washed up on the shore of a beach. Along with the photographs, a message: “An endless massacre”. The victims of the shipwreck were buried by the Libyan military in the Abu Qamash cemetery.
Oscar Camps, founder of the NGO Open Arms that carries out rescues of migrants at sea, also shared these photographs. In addition, Camps claimed that the bodies on the Zuwara beach had remained there for three days before finally being buried.
These stories are the human face of the immigration drama. This Wednesday, the Office of the High Commissioner published a report on the search and rescue of immigrants in the central Mediterranean – the route that links Libya with the Italian coast – during the year 2020, a period in which their interception and forced return to Libya increased over the previous year.
In 2020, the Libyan Coast Guard intercepted 10,352 people, according to official figures, and forced them to return to Libya, up from 8,403 in 2019. Many of them suffered arbitrary detentions upon their return.. The report notes that in the period analyzed, the EU and the member countries not only significantly reduced their maritime search and rescue operations, but also the work of humanitarian NGOs that fulfilled this task was hampered.
The tense situation has also led more and more commercial vessels to avoid coming to the aid of shipwrecked canoes as they know they will face delays and will even be prevented from disembarking in a safe harbor.. It is explained that the European Union, through Frontex and its Naval Force for the Mediterranean, has pushed the Libyan Coast Guard to assume more responsibilities in rescuing migrants when they are in international waters, but the UN affirms that this must be conditional on the rescued not being returned to Libya, which is not considered a safe country.
For this reason, the high commissioner asked the EU and Libya to change their policies and practices in this matter, since the current ones are leading to many migrants losing their lives.