Brussels, 23/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg ruled against Italy on Thursday 23 February for the 2009 interception at sea of a group of Somali and Eritrean refugees and for returning them to Libya from where they had set sail, disregarding the possible degrading and inhuman treatment they may have received there. Italy was found guilty of infringing the European Convention on Human Rights and the principle of “non-refoulement” of migrants, which bans the return of migrants to countries where they risk persecution. The Court also ruled against Italy for failing to provide the migrants with a right to effective recourse.
It was the agreements between the Berlusconi government and former dictator Muammar Gaddafi that were at issue in the ECHR on Thursday. The two countries agreed, in a “treaty of friendship” in 2008, on tougher monitoring of migration on the part of Libya and the return of migrants who reach Italy, in return for financial compensation.
This was a policy which the Strasbourg court implicitly criticised in its ruling. The plaintiffs, 11 Somali and 13 Eritrean nationals, were part of a group of around 200 people who left Libya on board three boats to travel to Italy, the Court said. On 6 May 2009, when the boats were 35 miles south of Lampedusa, that is, inside the maritime search and rescue region that was under the responsibility of Malta, they were “intercepted by Italian Customs and Coastguard vessels. The passengers were transferred to the Italian military vessels and taken to Tripoli”. However, no precautions were taken, the Italian authorities not having checked the identity of or questioned any of the migrants.
The Court notes that, while the pressure that the arrival of large numbers of migrants can put on a member state cannot be doubted, Italy could not ignore in this instance that the migrants which it sent back could be subjected to ill treatment.
At that time, the situation of migrants in Libya was already notorious, the Court says, there having been several reports, for example, from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the UN High Commission for Refugees. The pressure brought by migrants on Italy could not, then, exempt Italy of its responsibility not to send back persons who might be subjected to degrading treatment in their country of origin. The Court also said on Thursday that collective expulsions of non-nationals, without assessing individual situations, were banned by humanitarian law.
The European Commission noted this ruling, indicating that it would consider it in detail. Michele Cercone, the spokesman for European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström indicated that, at the time, contact had been made with Italy, the Commission, too, having concerns with regard to the principle of “non-refoulement”. These contacts continued until 2011, Cercone said, and, since 2009, no similar act has been observed.
In March of last year, in the midst of the Arab Spring, the Commission had had concerns over the fate of 1,800 migrants of Moroccan origin, whose ferry was prevented from going further by the Italian navy, and had asked the Italian government for explanations. The Commission concluded, however, that this did not represent an infringement of the principle of “non-refoulement”.
The ECHR ruling was welcomed by associations and organisations working for refugees, such as the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and Amnesty International and several MEPs.
In a press release, Hélène Flautre (Greens/EFA, France) welcomed the decision which, “though it comes late, provides a clear warning to member states: the time of illegal refoulement, carried out in complicity with dictatorial regimes, has gone”. She also hopes that this ruling will mean that there will be scrutiny of the practices of the FRONTEX agency and of agreements with third countries to tackle illegal immigration, which, she argues, the ECHR ruling renders incompatible with international standards. (SP/transl.rt)