Brussels, 02/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - European Immigration Commissioner Jacques Barrot said on Friday 29 May that Italy's return to Libya of possible asylum seekers picked up in the Mediterranean was unacceptable. “Where illegal immigrants are picked up at sea and sent back by Italy, there is no way to check for legitimate asylum seekers, and that is unacceptable,” he stated, following a meeting of G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in Rome. At the start of May, vessels of the Italian navy returned almost 500 immigrants to Libya, a country which has not signed the UN Convention on Refugees. Barrot highlighted “the need to clearly separate asylum seekers, who have a right to protection by Europe, from illegal immigrants,” AFP reports. “It cannot be right that asylum seekers have to rely on illegal networks of people traffickers to be able to bring their request,” Barrot added, backing Italy's suggestion of setting up identification centres in Africa, where, with the help of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), those seeking political asylum can make their request. At the meeting, Italy once again called for EU support to help southern countries tackle illegal immigration. The issue will be discussed at a meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday 4 June (see EUROPE 9911). Ahead of that meeting, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, on Tuesday 2 June, called on the EU to ensure that immigration control measures do not deprive asylum seekers and refugees of their fundamental rights. He called on the EU to assist Libya in improving conditions for asylum seekers, while calling on member states to allow entry to those in need of international protection. (B.C./transl.rt)