Italy Violated Human Rights Of African Migrants ... On The High Seas. European Court Of Human Rights
Human Rights Migrant workers Trackbacks (0)The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ruled that Italy violated
human rights principles by spurning African migrants and asylum-seekers
on the high seas, a judgment hailed as historic by Amnesty
International.
In the case, Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy,
the Court considered the plight of 24 people from Somalia and Eritrea
who were among more than 200 people intercepted at sea by Italian
authorities in 2009 and forced to return to Libya, their point of
departure.
The practice violated international obligations to
not return individuals to countries where they could be at risk of human
rights abuses.
“This historic judgment is a damning verdict on
Italy’s willingness to cooperate with Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi’s
government in Libya, which was known to systematically abuse human
rights,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali, Amnesty International’s Head of
Refugee and Migrants’ Rights.
“The ruling strengthens respect for
human rights across Europe and upholds international legal safeguards
for migrants and asylum-seekers.”
The Court found that Italy
violated the European Convention of Human Rights by exposing the
migrants to the risk of being subjected to ill-treatment in Libya and
being repatriated to Somalia and Eritrea.
Amnesty International
intervened as third party in the case, jointly with the AIRE Centre and
the Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme (FIDH),
pointing out that the Italian authorities’ actions began a policy of
push-backs that were condemned for breaching fundamental principles of
international human rights law.
The Court’s judgment establishes
that even when individuals are intercepted in international waters,
government authorities are obliged to abide by international human
rights law.
Anybody they intercept must have access to an
individualized procedure as well as remedies to challenge the decision
to return them to their country of departure. The Court found such
removals operated outside national territory constituted collective
expulsion.
“States intercepting individuals outside their territorial waters cannot operate in a legal vacuum,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali.
“Even
on the high seas, international human rights norms still apply,
including the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning
people to a country where they run the risk of human rights abuses.”
The European Court judgment comes at a time when new governments are in place in both Italy and Libya.
However,
Amnesty International has documented that Sub-Saharan African migrants
in Libya are still at risk of torture or other ill-treatment, and many
have been arbitrarily detained on the basis of their legal status in the
country. Both governments are currently re-establishing cooperation
ties on a number of issues, including migration control.
“It is
regrettable that one of the first decisions of the National Transitional
Council and the new Italian government, rather than rejecting such
cooperation, has actually been to recommit to cooperation in the field
of migration control,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali.
“The
principles upheld by this judgment must inform any cooperation on
migration control between the Italian government and the new Libyan
authorities.”