'Outsourcing' asylum seekers the Italian way

Italy is intercepting illegal immigrants in the Mediterranean and sending them straight back to Lybia. Human rights organisations, the United Nations and the Vatican are crying foul.

They thought they had reached the promised land: the 82 African migrants who were intercepted on July 1 off the coast of Lampedusa, an Italian island half-way between the Italian mainland and Libya. International law says people in distress have to be taken to the nearest port. Once on Lampedusa, the Africans, most of whom were from Eritrea, were planning to apply for political asylum in Italy.

Instead, the Italian coastguard put them on board a Libyan patrol boat. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which interviewed the Eritreans back in Libya, "a significant number was in need of international protection". But Libya doesn't have an asylum procedure, so the 82 Africans were simply detained.

Italy has been sending migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean back to Libya since last May. It is a policy that is as effective as it is controversial. The flow of boat refugees to Italy has been stemmed, but a diverse coalition, from rights groups to the Vatican, has taken Italy to task for what it says is a violation of fundamental human rights. It is feared that Italy's new approach is part of a trend among European countries to "outsource" their asylum and migration policies to African countries.

Illegal immigration to Italy by sea down by half In the first six months of 2009, 6,760 illegal immigrants arrived by sea in Sicily and Lampedusa, less than half the 14,800 who arrived last year, according to official figures. Since May Italy has sent at least 900 illegal immigrants back to Libya, although the UNHCR suspects it might be more. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says many illegal immigrants in Libya have been discouraged from attempting the sea voyage because of Italy's new policy. Libya is also cracking down on human traffickers. The economic downturn has also had an impact as fewer jobs are available for migrants in Europe.

Dealing with Gadaffi

The Italian-Libyan cooperation is part of a deal that prime minister Silvio Berlusconi made last year with the Libyan ruler, colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Rome promised Tripoli 5 billion euro in reparations for Italy's colonisation of Libya from 1911 until 1941. In exchange, Tripoli agreed to help stem the flow of illegal migrants to Italy.

Nine out of ten illegal immigrants on their way to Italy embark on their voyage in Libya. By sending them back to Libya, Italy keeps the migrants from entering an asylum procedure in Italy, where most of them would have ended up staying, whether legally or illegally. The Libyan patrol boats that take the migrants back were another gift from Rome.

"We are mostly worried about the refugees," says Dutchman Laurent Jolles, head of the UNHCR in Italy, Malta and Cyprus. Many of the migrants trying to reach Italy via the Mediterranean are economic migrants, but there are also people escaping the violence in countries like Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq or Afghanistan. Of the 37,000 boat people who reached Italy last year, three quarters applied for asylum. Half of those were given some kind of protection. "So it is safe to assume that by sending back the migrants you're also sending back refugees,” says Jolles.

'Lampedusa resolution'

Migrants have the right to apply for asylum upon reaching European soil, and to appeal against a rejection if necessary. Moreover, migrants cannot be sent back to countries where they might be in danger.

In 2005, the European parliament condemned Italy for its mass deportations of immigrants in violation of international law. Between October 2004 and March 2005, Italy had sent back hundreds of illegal aliens back to Libya, ignoring the right of asylum seekers to individual treatment. The European parliament's so-called 'Lampedusa resolution' made a reference to 106 migrants who allegedly died while in Libyan custody.

By sending the migrants back before they have even set foot on Italian soil, Italy is trying to get around the international conventions. But some experts argue that an Italian ship, even if it is in international waters, constitutes Italian soil. Legal haggling aside, one thing is clear, says Jolles: "Italy is denying refugees their right to seek asylum".

The UNHCR has called on the Berlusconi government to halt expulsions to Libya immediately and to allow intercepted migrants to enter Italian admission procedures as before. Rome, on its part, says its new migration policy is more humane: if fewer migrants embark on the dangerous voyage to Italy, fewer will drown.

But the UNHCR points out that Italy is sending people back to a country that never even signed the 1951 UN refugees convention.

A little help from Brussels

Libya has a bad reputation when it comes to handling immigrants. For years, human rights organisations have complained about Libya’s mistreatment of immigrants in detention centres and its arbitrary deportations. In 2004, Libya put 75 Eritrean refugees on a plane back to Eritrea. The refugees forced the pilot to land in Sudan, According to the UNHCR, sixty of them qualified for asylum, which they eventually obtained from Sudan.

"For Italy to deport Eritreans back to Libya without any kind of procedure is worrisome," says Thomas Gammelhoft-Hansen, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. Gammelhoft-Hansen in May finished a dissertation about what he calls the "outsourcing" of Europe's asylum and migration policy. More and more, Gammelhoft-Hansen says, Brussels and individual EU countries are encouraging African countries to stop immigrants from trying to reach Europe.

Brussels intervenes directly through its funding of the EU agency Frontex, which is charged with the protection of Europe's outer borders. Indirectly, countries like Spain, Italy or Malta, which bear the brunt of illegal immigration, have made their own, bilateral agreements with African countries.

Spain, for instance, receives funds from Brussels to patrol the waters off Senegal and Mauritania, from where many migrants take off for the Canary Islands. These countries, with dubious human rights records, also take back intercepted refugees. The Spanish patrols began after 31,000 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands in 2006; this year that figure was down to 1,500.

The difference between Spain and Italy is that the Canary Islands attract mostly economic refugees, whereas Italy has many more genuine asylum seekers. Gammelhoft-Hansen: "That just makes it all the more serious that Italy is sending people back to Libya."