Report into conditions in Libya, Somalia and Eritrea highlights injustices
The Human Rights Watch report gave an insight into the conditions faced by refugees, asylum seekers and irregular migrants who flee Libya for Europe. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi
By Patrick Cooke
Sub-Saharan migrant workers in Libya continued to face harassment, arbitrary arrests and forced labour by criminal gangs and militias, Human Rights Watch said in its 2014 World Report.
Although the report barely mentioned Malta specifically, it provided insight into the conditions faced by the refugees, asylum seekers and irregular migrants who flee Libya on boats bound for Europe.
Human Rights Watch painted a picture of instability in Libya, where “armed groups controlled security in many parts of the country, thousands of detainees remained in government and militia-controlled detention facilities without access to justice and rampant ill-treatment and deaths in custody persisted”.
In Somalia, where most asylum seekers in Malta come from, the watchdog noted “civilians suffered serious human rights abuses as the new Somali government struggled to extend its control beyond the capital, Mogadishu, and to key towns in south-central Somalia in 2013”.
Groups involved in long-running armed conflict were responsible for serious violations of international law, including indiscriminate attacks, sexual violence and arbitrary arrests and detention.
Eritrea, the second major source country for asylum seekers in Malta, was described by the international watchdog as “one of the most closed countries in the world”.
“Indefinite military service, torture, arbitrary detention and severe restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and religion provoke thousands of Eritreans to flee each month,” the report said.
Eritrea had no constitution, functioning legislature, independent judiciary, elections, independent press or non-governmental organisations, it noted. All power is concentrated in the hands of President Isaias Afewerki, in office since 1991.
In the EU, Human Rights Watch said that discrimination, racism and homophobia remained serious problems in member states, with Roma, migrants and asylum seekers particularly marginalised.
It noted that the EU took further steps toward a common asylum system in June with the adoption of revised rules on procedures and reception conditions. Yet, in practice, asylum seekers faced “protection gaps” in several EU countries.
The common asylum system provided broad grounds for detention, did not oblige member states to provide free legal assistance at the first instance and failed to exempt especially vulnerable asylum seekers from accelerated procedures.
Meanwhile, member states adopted divergent approaches to Syrian asylum seekers. Sweden, for example, said it would grant permanent residence to Syrians to whom it previously granted temporary protection, whereas Greece tried to return them to Turkey.
Germany and Austria pledged to resettle 5,000 and 500 Syrian refugees respectively but few other EU countries made more than token resettlement offers.
The report also highlighted the fact that the European Court of Human Rights blocked Malta’s proposed summary return to Libya of a group of Somalis last July.
The death of over 360 migrants and asylum seekers in a single shipwreck in October focused Europe’s attention on boat migration.
However, policy responses concentrated on surveillance and deterrence with few new measures to help prevent loss of life by prompt rescue, to assess and provide for protection needs or to ensure swift and safe disembarkation, Human Rights Watch said.
Source: Times of Malta
