LUXEMBOURG (AFP) –
The EU wants Libya to sign a refugee convention so would-be immigrants to Europe can apply for asylum there instead of trying to cross the Mediterranean, a top justice official said Thursday.
“We are going to begin negotiations with Libya and see how we can lead this country to respect its international obligations. We must be firm on this point,” said EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot.
“There is a paradox when asylum seekers have to pay traffickers to have any chance that they be recognised as aslyum seekers,” he told reporters in Luxembourg, after talks with EU interior ministers.
Libya is a major transit country for people from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan seeking to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, with the first land fall usually the Italian island of Lampedusa or Malta.
Many EU nations want to boost cooperation with Tripoli to help stem the flow of would-be migrants close to its source, with thousands expected to attempt the potentially perilous crossing in coming months as the weather warms.
Yet Libya is the only African country not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, does not have any asylum procedures and often detains people seeking protection indefinitely in extremely poor conditions.
“We have to look at how we can assist the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to have bases in every country,” Barrot said, adding that he would travel soon to Libya with UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres.
On Wednesday, Europe’s ECRE refugee agency urged EU nations not to send would-be migrants from Africa back to Libya, warning they could face long periods of detention in a country with a poor rights record.
Early last month, Italian naval vessels escorted a boatload of around 500 people hoping to reach land in the EU to Libya and dropped them off without allowing them to apply for asylum, in a move slammed by the UN and NGOs.
Both Malta and Italy are grappling with a sharp spike in illegal immigration from outside the European Union, with 36,900 arriving in Italy last year — a 75 percent increase from 2007.
Malta, whose population is about 400,000, saw a record 2,775 would-be migrants land in 2008.
