Libya refuses to cooperate with Italian refugee council CIR‏

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/world/Libya-refuses-to-cooperate-with-refugee-workers-in-EU-funded-mission-20140127

Libya refuses to cooperate with refugee workers in EU-funded mission

Despite millions in funding to Libya to guard borders, refugees’ rights
are not being respected

Matthew Vella

A German MP has revealed that the Libyan authorities are refusing to
cooperate with Italian and German command centres at the borders of the
North African countries, to prevent the abuse of asylum seekers crossing
the Sahara desert.

Andrej Hunko, of the left-wing party Die Linke, said that Libyan
"partners" to EUBAM-Libya - the EU border assistance mission - had
refused to cooperate with the Italian Council for Refugees, according to
an answer to his PQ by the Federal German government.

"The EU's activities relating to the restructuring of the Libyan
security apparatus must be halted without delay. This applies to
training projects for the military and for the police," Hunko said in
response to the government's answer to an interpellation about the
EUROSUR border surveillance system.

Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta and Prime Minister Ali Zaydan of
Libya agreed to continue the surveillance of Libya's land borders with
Italian technology, which begun in 2010 before it was temporarily halted
during the upheavals in Libya.

The long-term goal of this Italian-Libyan cooperation is to develop a
surveillance strategy for the purpose of intergrated border management.

In its reply to Hunko's interpellation, the German government said Libya
was not cooperating with Italy.

The EU-funded bilateral Sahara-Med Project was due for renewal in March
2013. The project included having the Italian Refugee Council to assume
responsibility for particular aspects of refugee management, namely the
reception of refugees and asylum issues, in the refugee camps around
Tripoli.

"But Libyan counterparts have so far refused to cooperate with the CIR -
the Italian Refugee Council - and this part of the project is not yet
operational," the German government said.

"Italy is establishing facilities to monitor Libya's sea and land
borders connected to Italian command and control centres," Hunko said in
a statement. "The aim is to prevent refugees from making the crossing to
Europe. If they are detected while still in Libyan waters, the EU Member
States can avoid having to deal with asylum applications. However, the
protection of refugees is not guaranteed in Libya. There are reports of
serious abuses by the police and militias," Hunko said.

The EU launched the EUBAM police mission to establish a border-control
force in Libya, under military command, to guard the borders and even
oil facilities owned by EU companies.

Download the answer to the Minor Interpellation entitled "The launch of
the EUROSUR border surveillance network" (in English):
http://www.andrej-hunko.de/start/download/doc_download/417-the-eurosur-surveillance-network

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