Luxembourg, 15/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Member States showed themselves on Thursday in Luxembourg to be in favour of opening operational cooperation with Libya on illegal immigration. "We have established a will to intensify cooperation with Libya", declared Luxembourg Interior Minister Nicolas Schmit following the discussions of the Interior Ministers of the 25 on the report in which the European Commission proposes to initiate operational cooperation with Libya to combat illegal immigration.
The discussion was relatively consensual with none of the participants voicing objection to cooperation, European sources say, despite concern expressed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) and Amnesty International. Discussions will continue in a working group before the European Commission presents concrete proposals for launching operational cooperation for the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 2 and 3 June. In its report, the European Commission suggests helping Libya to train its border guards and establish an asylum policy, which is totally non-existent for now (EUROPE 8294). The Luxembourg minister for the interior stressed the Council's resolve to rapidly set a number of operational measures in place.
The HCR expressed some concern and invited the European Union to be very attentive to the rights of refugees, its European office pointed out, stating that the right to asylum should be taken into account when speaking of immigration management. Already committed in a number of African countries for the establishment of asylum policies, the HCR is not opposed to cooperation, on condition that it is conducted in keeping with the rules. The HCR denounced on several occasions the mass expulsion by Italy - towards Libya - of refugees who arrived at the island of Lampedusa (see EUROPE 8928 on the subject of the resolution adopted by the European Parliament). Amnesty International calls for immediate cessation of the expulsions, and expresses great concern that the European Union can carry out an ad hoc cooperation with Libya on illegal immigration without the “adequate safeguards” that are needed to ensure human rights.
There is also the very sensitive issue of five Bulgarian healthcare workers and a Palestinian doctor who have been sentenced to death by Libya for allegedly inoculating the AIDS virus into Libyan children in a hospital in Benghazi. The question of the Bulgarian healthcare workers is of capital importance for the Council, Nicolas Schmit said, adding that they are in contact with the Libyan authorities to obtain the release of those sentenced in an unjust and unjustified manner. He went on to add that one should nonetheless keep one's eyes open as it is in the interest of Europe to develop cooperation with Libya on the enormous problem of the massive inflow of people from Libya, and on the problem of people in Libya who receive harsh treatment. Tripoli is seeking to come closer to the Euro-Mediterranean Barcelona Process, he recalled.