03/02/2020 (Agence Europe) – The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, called on the Italian government to “urgently suspend the co-operation activities in place with the Libyan Coast Guard” last week when the Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya was automatically renewed on 2 February. The agreement has “resulted in increased returns of migrants, including asylum seekers, to Libya, where they have suffered from serious human rights violations”, she said. According to Ms Mijatović, the European Union should support efforts to free migrants from detention facilities in Libya, “facilitate the creation of safe humanitarian corridors”, ensure that rescue means are deployed in the Mediterranean. It is “shameful” to turn a blind eye to “this tragedy [to which] European countries have contributed”, she said. (VL)