The Italian Minister for the Interior, Marco Minniti proposed a pact to Libya during a visit to Tripoli on Thursday 13 July.
AFP reported that during a meeting with 13 mayors from southern Libya, the Italian minister stated, “We will make a pact to liberate our land from traffickers”. Mr Minniti explained that the fight against the traffickers had to be done in two steps: security for mitigating traffic and socio-economic development and job creation. The Minister pointed out, “We have the moral duty to stamp out this trafficking, which has resulted in fatalities… it is also a huge and unacceptable pressure on my country”.
Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the Government of National Union (GNA), provided assurances to Mr Minniti that, “Libya will do all it can… to relieve the pressure on the Italian coastlines”.
Work continues on code of conduct for NGOs
On Thursday, Italy and the European Commission held a technical meeting on the code of conduct Italy would like to impose on NGOs operating in the Mediterranean Sea where they are rescuing migrants coming from Libya.
The Commission described this technical meeting on the code being drafted, which it fully supported, as very constructive. Nastasha Bertaud, the spokesperson explained that “It should provide greater certainty to all operators acting in the Mediterranean on what working practices should be used. It should be able to assure NGOs that adhere to these principles (...) in line with international law that they would have the guarantee that they would then be able to access the Italian ports”. She explained that the existence of NGO vessels that are hostile to migrants makes the elaboration of this code even more necessary.
It should be pointed out that this code of conduct imposes a number of requirements on NGOs. If they fail to meet these requirements, they will be denied access to Italian ports (see EUROPE 11824). For example, they will not be allowed to send electronic communications or light signals to migrant boats.
The spokesperson referred to the increased loss of life, despite the rise in the number of migrant rescue boats at sea. She indicated that the way forward for the EU consisted in improving the training of the Libyan Coast Guard and opening up new legal avenues for immigration by way of refugee resettlement from Libya and neighbouring countries. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic and Mathieu Bion)