Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Inside the West's Cynical Plan to Keep Refugees out of Europe by
Trapping Them in Libya
________________________________________
Inside the West's Cynical Plan to Keep Refugees out of Europe by Trapping
Them in Libya
By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]
May 21, 2016
AddThis Sharing Buttons
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to Google+More AddThis Share
optionsShare to Email
Western countries' callous response to the greatest crisis of human
displacement since World War II has reached new heights with the latest push
to fashion-and arm-a Libyan state in part so that it can help trap refugees
in that country and prevent them from reaching European shores.
European heads of state have already unleashed a brutal crackdown on people
fleeing war and poverty, including through the EU's "Operation Sophia"
military force in the Mediterranean, which was established last May to
prevent refugees stranded in Libya from journeying to the continent in
search of sanctuary.
But a new report [3] from the UK House of Lords concludes that, in order to
effectively obstruct these refugees, Operation Sophia requires a functional
Libyan state, which does not currently exist.
"Given appropriate political support in Libya-however unlikely that may
be-[Operation Sophia] could, potentially, play a more useful role if able to
operate in Libyan waters (Phase 2B) and onshore in Libya (Phase 3)," state
the main findings [4] of the report, which was prepared by the EU External
Affairs Sub-Committee. "A Libyan government that is recognized
internationally and accepted internally is a prerequisite to the future
success of the mission."
These findings echo the conclusions of a internal report [5] published this
January by Operation Sophia commander, Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino of the
Italian Navy, which was leaked to the public by WikiLeaks in February.
"Moving forward, from a military perspective, I am ready to move to phase 2B
in Libyan Territorial Waters, but there are a number of political and legal
challenges that must be addressed before I can recommend such a transition,"
that report states. "We will also need to cooperate with and deconflict our
activities with those of any other international missions that might operate
within Libya once a Government of National Accord [GNA] has been
established."
In other words, politicians and the figures behind Operation Sophia argue
that intercepting and destroying refugee boats in international waters is
not, in fact, preventing displaced people from attempting the voyage. In
order to offshore the Libyan crisis from Europe, they insist, refugees must
be prevented from leaving that country's waters, and that requires an
effective state.
This evaluation sheds light on the new international push, led by western
nations, to arm Libya's "Government of National Accord," which may or may
not actually exist.
Funneling Arms Into a Humanitarian Crisis
In a joint communique [6] released Monday following a ministerial meeting in
Vienna, world powers declared their intention to carve out an exception to
the United Nations arms embargo on Libya, which has been in place [7] since
2011.
In public statements, U.S. officials have dubiously claimed that this
initiative will help defeat ISIS. "The international community will support
the [Libyan] Presidency Council as it seeks exemption from the U.N. arms
embargo to acquire those weapons and bullets needed to fight Daesh [ISIS}
and other terrorist groups," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told
reporters [8] at a press conference on Monday.
In fact, NATO's military intervention in 2011 played a critical role in
unleashing the conditions [9] that led to ISIS's rise in Libya. Yet, the
U.S. has continued its failed military intervention with a new wave of
bombings [10] and troop deployments [11]. There is no evidence that
funneling arms into Libya will somehow help stem the violence and chaos that
western military campaigns have helped create.
But statements [12] made by Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni at the
Libya ministerial meeting reveal another key goal. He proclaimed that
international support for the so-called GNA is "key," because, with
stabilization, "we can tackle the migration issue."
However, the confidence of government officials withers as soon as they are
pressed to explain who exactly would receive these arms shipments.
Dan Lamothe noted [13] earlier this week in the Washington Post, "Army Gen.
David M. Rodriguez, the chief of U.S. Africa Command, told a handful of
reporters here that Libya's internal politics still make it difficult to
determine which armed groups are aligning themselves with the Government of
National Accord."
And here's what state department spokesperson John Kirby said [14] in a
press briefing on Wednesday to an unidentified reporter:
QUESTION: Is the lack of unity in Libya a concern for the United States when
deciding whether or not to send weapons to Libya?
MR KIRBY: It is a concern for the United States on its face. And again, I'd
point you back to what the Secretary said the other day, that this is a
moment for all Libyans to come together and to support the Government of
National Accord. That is the legitimate government and that is the
government that we believe deserves the support of the international
community, and we'd like to see all Libyans, wherever they are throughout
the country, to come together to support that government. So the - is it a
concern, the lack of consensus, there? Obviously, it is.
In other words, the U.S. is planning to help arm a Libyan faction that has
not emerged as a legitimate government-and is instructing Libyan people to
embrace that non-existent state. It is doing so in a country that it has
already inflicted profound harm upon through a wrong-headed military
intervention.
What It Means to Trap Refugees in Libya
While it is not apparent exactly what form western collaboration with a
Libyan faction to tackle migration would take, all of the available evidence
suggests that the plan is aimed at preventing displaced people from
journeying across the Mediterranean.
This amounts to trapping refugees in dire conditions in Libya, which has no
domestic refugee laws [15] or asylum procedures. In an international
briefing [16] published last May, Amnesty International outlined the abuses
that refugees stranded in Libya are forced to endure, from rape to torture
to slave labor:
Torture and other ill-treatment in immigration detention centers have
remained widespread. In many cases, migrants and refugees attempting to
cross the Mediterranean Sea have been subjected to prolonged beatings in
such facilities following their interception and arrest by the Libyan
coastguard or militias acting on their own initiative in the absence of
strong state institutions. Women held in these facilities, which lack female
guards, are vulnerable to sexual violence and harassment.
. Research conducted by Amnesty International reveals that migrants and
refugees are increasingly exploited and forced to work without pay,
physically assaulted and robbed in their homes or in the streets. Religious
minorities, in particular Christian migrants and refugees, are at highest
risk of abuses, including abductions, torture and other ill-treatment and
unlawful killings, from armed groups that seek to enforce their own
interpretation of Islamic law and have been responsible for serious human
rights abuses. They also face widespread discrimination and persecution from
their employers, criminal groups and in immigration detention centers. In
some cases, the detention and abuse of foreign nationals, in particular
sub-Saharan Africans, have been motivated by a fear of illnesses, which was
exacerbated by last year's outbreak of Ebola.
A separate report from Human Rights Watch in 2014 found [17], "Guards in
migrant detention centers under Libyan government control have tortured and
otherwise abused migrants and asylum seekers, including with severe
whippings, beatings, and electric shocks."
Meanwhile, Libya faces its own crisis of internally displaced refugees,
thanks in large part to NATO's disastrous military intervention. Last June,
the UN Refugee Agency reported [18] that "Increased fighting in Libya since
the start of [2015] has led to a doubling in the number of displaced people
in the country to more than 434,000."
Any initiative to enlist a Libyan faction to trap refugees in these
conditions is unconscionable. Meanwhile, there is already evidence that
Europe's military operations are forcing displaced people to resort to more
dangerous means to escape these appaling conditions. In its recent report,
the UK House of Lords noted that Operation Sophia's systemic destruction of
at least 80 vessels used to transport refugees "has simply caused the
smugglers to shift from using wooden boats to rubber dinghies, which are
even more unsafe."
Despite the reams of disturbing reports from human rights groups and
governments alike, Western countries remain determined to ratchet up the
militarization of the Mediterranean. In April, heads of state from the U.S.,
UK, France, Germany and Italy "urged NATO and the EU to draw on their
experience in the Aegean to explore how they could work together to address
in an orderly and humane way migrant flows in the central Mediterranean,"
according to a statement [19] from the White House. British Prime Minister
David Cameron recently declared that he is considering [20] conducting
direct training missions for the Libyan navy to block refugees from seeking
to cross to Europe.
To keep the refugee crisis away from Europe's shores, western states are
willing to funnel arms into a war-torn country to shore up a government
whose stablity is suspect at best. Behind the potentially catastrophic
gambit lies a plan to trap survivors of violence and poverty in deplorable
conditions. If those refugees manage to escape from the conflict zone, they
will be met not by humanitarian relief, but by hostile military patrols.
Beyond the walls of Fortress Europe, a vast, aquatic graveyard may soon
expand.
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [21].
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [22]
[23]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/inside-wests-cynical-plan-keep-refu
gees-out-europe-trapping-them-libya
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/eu-
external-affairs-subcommittee/news-parliament-2015/operation-sophia-report-p
ublication/
[4]
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201516/ldselect/ldeucom/144/14409
.htm#_idTextAnchor075
[5] https://wikileaks.org/eu-military-refugees/EEAS/EEAS-2016-126.pdf
[6] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2016/05/257236.htm
[7]
http://www.sipri.org/databases/embargoes/un_arms_embargoes/libya/libya_2011
[8]
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/kerry-u-s-ready-to-arm-libyan-government-for-fi
ght-against-isis-686604355897
[9]
http://www.frontline.in/world-affairs/descent-into-chaos/article8123795.ece
[10] http://www.reuters.com/article/libya-security-idUSKCN0VS1A5
[11] http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/18/middleeast/libya-isis-us-special-forces/
[12]
http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/572498/press_releases_remarks_at_the_li
bya_ministerial.html
[13]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/05/17/who-in-libya-wi
ll-the-u-s-send-weapons-to-its-complicated-says-a-top-general/
[14] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/05/257328.htm
[15]
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/17/eu-plans-libya-risk-crossing-migration-r
ed-lines
[16]
https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2015/05/libya-horrific-abuse-drivi
ng-migrants-to-risk-lives-in-mediterranean-crossings/
[17] https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/22/libya-whipped-beaten-and-hung-trees
[18]
http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/6/5592a8286/numbers-internally-displac
ed-libya-double-since-september-unhcr.html
[19]
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/04/25/readout-presidents-me
eting-british-prime-minister-david-cameron-french
[20]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/26/royal-navy-could-be-sent-to-train
-the-libyan-coastguard-in-a-bid/
[21] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[22] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Inside the West's
Cynical Plan to Keep Refugees out of Europe by Trapping Them in Libya
[23] http://www.alternet.org/
[24] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Inside the West's Cynical Plan to Keep Refugees out of Europe by
Trapping Them in Libya
Inside the West's Cynical Plan to Keep Refugees out of Europe by Trapping
Them in Libya
By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]
May 21, 2016
AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to Google+More
AddThis Share optionsShare to Email
Western countries' callous response to the greatest crisis of human
displacement since World War II has reached new heights with the latest push
to fashion-and arm-a Libyan state in part so that it can help trap refugees
in that country and prevent them from reaching European shores.
European heads of state have already unleashed a brutal crackdown on people
fleeing war and poverty, including through the EU's "Operation Sophia"
military force in the Mediterranean, which was established last May to
prevent refugees stranded in Libya from journeying to the continent in
search of sanctuary.
But a new report [3] from the UK House of Lords concludes that, in order to
effectively obstruct these refugees, Operation Sophia requires a functional
Libyan state, which does not currently exist.
"Given appropriate political support in Libya-however unlikely that may
be-[Operation Sophia] could, potentially, play a more useful role if able to
operate in Libyan waters (Phase 2B) and onshore in Libya (Phase 3)," state
the main findings [4] of the report, which was prepared by the EU External
Affairs Sub-Committee. "A Libyan government that is recognized
internationally and accepted internally is a prerequisite to the future
success of the mission."
These findings echo the conclusions of a internal report [5] published this
January by Operation Sophia commander, Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino of the
Italian Navy, which was leaked to the public by WikiLeaks in February.
"Moving forward, from a military perspective, I am ready to move to phase 2B
in Libyan Territorial Waters, but there are a number of political and legal
challenges that must be addressed before I can recommend such a transition,"
that report states. "We will also need to cooperate with and deconflict our
activities with those of any other international missions that might operate
within Libya once a Government of National Accord [GNA] has been
established."
In other words, politicians and the figures behind Operation Sophia argue
that intercepting and destroying refugee boats in international waters is
not, in fact, preventing displaced people from attempting the voyage. In
order to offshore the Libyan crisis from Europe, they insist, refugees must
be prevented from leaving that country's waters, and that requires an
effective state.
This evaluation sheds light on the new international push, led by western
nations, to arm Libya's "Government of National Accord," which may or may
not actually exist.
Funneling Arms Into a Humanitarian Crisis
In a joint communique [6] released Monday following a ministerial meeting in
Vienna, world powers declared their intention to carve out an exception to
the United Nations arms embargo on Libya, which has been in place [7] since
2011.
In public statements, U.S. officials have dubiously claimed that this
initiative will help defeat ISIS. "The international community will support
the [Libyan] Presidency Council as it seeks exemption from the U.N. arms
embargo to acquire those weapons and bullets needed to fight Daesh [ISIS}
and other terrorist groups," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told
reporters [8] at a press conference on Monday.
In fact, NATO's military intervention in 2011 played a critical role in
unleashing the conditions [9] that led to ISIS's rise in Libya. Yet, the
U.S. has continued its failed military intervention with a new wave of
bombings [10] and troop deployments [11]. There is no evidence that
funneling arms into Libya will somehow help stem the violence and chaos that
western military campaigns have helped create.
But statements [12] made by Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni at the
Libya ministerial meeting reveal another key goal. He proclaimed that
international support for the so-called GNA is "key," because, with
stabilization, "we can tackle the migration issue."
However, the confidence of government officials withers as soon as they are
pressed to explain who exactly would receive these arms shipments.
Dan Lamothe noted [13] earlier this week in the Washington Post, "Army Gen.
David M. Rodriguez, the chief of U.S. Africa Command, told a handful of
reporters here that Libya's internal politics still make it difficult to
determine which armed groups are aligning themselves with the Government of
National Accord."
And here's what state department spokesperson John Kirby said [14] in a
press briefing on Wednesday to an unidentified reporter:
QUESTION: Is the lack of unity in Libya a concern for the United States when
deciding whether or not to send weapons to Libya?
MR KIRBY: It is a concern for the United States on its face. And again, I'd
point you back to what the Secretary said the other day, that this is a
moment for all Libyans to come together and to support the Government of
National Accord. That is the legitimate government and that is the
government that we believe deserves the support of the international
community, and we'd like to see all Libyans, wherever they are throughout
the country, to come together to support that government. So the - is it a
concern, the lack of consensus, there? Obviously, it is.
In other words, the U.S. is planning to help arm a Libyan faction that has
not emerged as a legitimate government-and is instructing Libyan people to
embrace that non-existent state. It is doing so in a country that it has
already inflicted profound harm upon through a wrong-headed military
intervention.
What It Means to Trap Refugees in Libya
While it is not apparent exactly what form western collaboration with a
Libyan faction to tackle migration would take, all of the available evidence
suggests that the plan is aimed at preventing displaced people from
journeying across the Mediterranean.
This amounts to trapping refugees in dire conditions in Libya, which has no
domestic refugee laws [15] or asylum procedures. In an international
briefing [16] published last May, Amnesty International outlined the abuses
that refugees stranded in Libya are forced to endure, from rape to torture
to slave labor:
Torture and other ill-treatment in immigration detention centers have
remained widespread. In many cases, migrants and refugees attempting to
cross the Mediterranean Sea have been subjected to prolonged beatings in
such facilities following their interception and arrest by the Libyan
coastguard or militias acting on their own initiative in the absence of
strong state institutions. Women held in these facilities, which lack female
guards, are vulnerable to sexual violence and harassment.
. Research conducted by Amnesty International reveals that migrants and
refugees are increasingly exploited and forced to work without pay,
physically assaulted and robbed in their homes or in the streets. Religious
minorities, in particular Christian migrants and refugees, are at highest
risk of abuses, including abductions, torture and other ill-treatment and
unlawful killings, from armed groups that seek to enforce their own
interpretation of Islamic law and have been responsible for serious human
rights abuses. They also face widespread discrimination and persecution from
their employers, criminal groups and in immigration detention centers. In
some cases, the detention and abuse of foreign nationals, in particular
sub-Saharan Africans, have been motivated by a fear of illnesses, which was
exacerbated by last year's outbreak of Ebola.
A separate report from Human Rights Watch in 2014 found [17], "Guards in
migrant detention centers under Libyan government control have tortured and
otherwise abused migrants and asylum seekers, including with severe
whippings, beatings, and electric shocks."
Meanwhile, Libya faces its own crisis of internally displaced refugees,
thanks in large part to NATO's disastrous military intervention. Last June,
the UN Refugee Agency reported [18] that "Increased fighting in Libya since
the start of [2015] has led to a doubling in the number of displaced people
in the country to more than 434,000."
Any initiative to enlist a Libyan faction to trap refugees in these
conditions is unconscionable. Meanwhile, there is already evidence that
Europe's military operations are forcing displaced people to resort to more
dangerous means to escape these appaling conditions. In its recent report,
the UK House of Lords noted that Operation Sophia's systemic destruction of
at least 80 vessels used to transport refugees "has simply caused the
smugglers to shift from using wooden boats to rubber dinghies, which are
even more unsafe."
Despite the reams of disturbing reports from human rights groups and
governments alike, Western countries remain determined to ratchet up the
militarization of the Mediterranean. In April, heads of state from the U.S.,
UK, France, Germany and Italy "urged NATO and the EU to draw on their
experience in the Aegean to explore how they could work together to address
in an orderly and humane way migrant flows in the central Mediterranean,"
according to a statement [19] from the White House. British Prime Minister
David Cameron recently declared that he is considering [20] conducting
direct training missions for the Libyan navy to block refugees from seeking
to cross to Europe.
To keep the refugee crisis away from Europe's shores, western states are
willing to funnel arms into a war-torn country to shore up a government
whose stablity is suspect at best. Behind the potentially catastrophic
gambit lies a plan to trap survivors of violence and poverty in deplorable
conditions. If those refugees manage to escape from the conflict zone, they
will be met not by humanitarian relief, but by hostile military patrols.
Beyond the walls of Fortress Europe, a vast, aquatic graveyard may soon
expand.
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [21].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [22]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[23]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/inside-wests-cynical-plan-keep-refu
gees-out-europe-trapping-them-libya
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/eu-
external-affairs-subcommittee/news-parliament-2015/operation-sophia-report-p
ublication/
[4]
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201516/ldselect/ldeucom/144/14409
.htm#_idTextAnchor075
[5] https://wikileaks.org/eu-military-refugees/EEAS/EEAS-2016-126.pdf
[6] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2016/05/257236.htm
[7]
http://www.sipri.org/databases/embargoes/un_arms_embargoes/libya/libya_2011
[8]
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/kerry-u-s-ready-to-arm-libyan-government-for-fi
ght-against-isis-686604355897
[9]
http://www.frontline.in/world-affairs/descent-into-chaos/article8123795.ece
[10] http://www.reuters.com/article/libya-security-idUSKCN0VS1A5
[11] http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/18/middleeast/libya-isis-us-special-forces/
[12]
http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/572498/press_releases_remarks_at_the_li
bya_ministerial.html
[13]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/05/17/who-in-libya-wi
ll-the-u-s-send-weapons-to-its-complicated-says-a-top-general/
[14] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/05/257328.htm
[15]
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/17/eu-plans-libya-risk-crossing-migration-r
ed-lines
[16]
https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2015/05/libya-horrific-abuse-drivi
ng-migrants-to-risk-lives-in-mediterranean-crossings/
[17] https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/22/libya-whipped-beaten-and-hung-trees
[18]
http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/6/5592a8286/numbers-internally-displac
ed-libya-double-since-september-unhcr.html
[19]
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/04/25/readout-presidents-me
eting-british-prime-minister-david-cameron-french
[20]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/26/royal-navy-could-be-sent-to-train
-the-libyan-coastguard-in-a-bid/
[21] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[22] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Inside the West's
Cynical Plan to Keep Refugees out of Europe by Trapping Them in Libya
[23] http://www.alternet.org/
[24] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B