Strasbourg, April 29: Italy is violating Europe’s human rights convention by pushing boatloads of migrants back to the Libyan shores, a top anti-torture watchdog said Wednesday.
Last year Rome and Tripoli reached a controversial agreement that allows the Italian navy to intercept illegal migrants at sea and return them to Libya, triggering sharp criticism from the UNHCR and rights groups.
In its 2009 report on Italy, the Council of Europe’s anti-torture Committee (CPT) warned the return of migrants to Libya was a breach of Rome’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The pan-European watchdog said the policy, based on its study of the period from May to July last year, violates the convention’s principle that no refugee should be returned to a country where he or she is likely to face persecution or torture.
Based on the CPT’s findings, “it would appear that the Italian authorities have knowingly pushed back particularly vulnerable persons, and perhaps also persons who could attest to their status as refugees,” it added.
The report said all persons within Italy’s jurisdiction — including at sea outside its territory — should have a chance to apply for asylum or other forms of international protection, but that none was provided to the migrants.
Human Rights Watch has also accused Italy of returning boatloads of migrants back to Libya without determining whether some might be refugees, sick or injured, pregnant women, unaccompanied children, or victims of trafficking.
Meanwhile, an Italian police investigation found that African farm workers were treated almost like “slaves” by their mafia handlers.
Clashes recently broke out between black labourers and groups of white Italians in Rosarno, following years of exploitation of the immigrants, according to the police, which arrested more than 30 people.
The immigrant workers, who arrived to Italy from Africa often without proper papers, were threatened with violence if they tried to go to the authorities, the police said.
Opposition MP Rosa Villecco Calipari condemned “an evil situation in which unscrupulous men force others to live in conditions of near slavery.”
Italian MEP Luigi De Magistris accused the government of turning a blind eye to an entrenched system of “modern slavery”.
—Agencies