Amnesty slams Tripoli
2009-06-10 12:40
Rome - The humanitarian group Amnesty International on Tuesday slammed Tripoli's treatment of African migrants on the eve of a historic visit to Italy by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Calling on Italian leaders to insist on human rights "guarantees" from Tripoli, the London-based group also blasted Rome for a controversial policy it began implementing last month under which hundreds of boat people intercepted in the Mediterranean were returned to Libya from where they set out.
The boat people were not given a chance to apply for asylum and were "forcibly returned to Libya without regard for any evaluation of their need for international protection", the Italian section of Amnesty said in a statement.
An Amnesty delegation visited a detention centre in Misratah, northwestern Libya, where "hundreds of non-Libyan citizens, most coming from Eritrea but also from Somalia, Nigeria and Mali, are held in conditions of serious overcrowding," it said.
Functioning system
"There were between 600 and 700 people in a space with a maximum capacity of 350," Amnesty said in a statement.
During the visit, Amnesty heard "worrying reports of discriminatory and degrading treatment and maltreatment of migrants from sub-Saharan African countries by Libyan citizens and Libyan police forces", it said.
"Libya does not have a functioning system of asylum... denies the presence of refugees in its territory... (and has) indicated that it has no intention of adhering to the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees," Amnesty added.
Italy, Libya's former colonial power, is its leading trading partner.
During his three-day visit starting on Wednesday, the maverick Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, will meet Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, President Giorgio Napolitano and both parliamentary speakers.
Gaddafi, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the African Union, will also be among delegates to the Group of Eight summit to be hosted by Italy next month.
- SAPA