European court rules against Italy for expelling migrants

Feb 23, 2012, 10:28 GMT

Rome/Strasbourg = The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ruled that Italy had violated it human rights obligations when it deported a group of African migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea to Libya in 2009.

The decision delivered in Strasbourg by 17 judges of the court was described as a 'landmark' by the United Nation's Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and was also welcomed by several rights groups in Italy and elsewhere.

Italy's International Cooperation Minister, Andrea Riccardi, said that the ruling would force Italy to 'think and rethink our policies towards migration.'

The case concerned 24 Somalis and Eritreans who were in a group of 200 migrants intercepted by the Italian Coast Guard 35 nautical miles from the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The 24 were traced and assisted in Libya by an Italian non-governmental organization the Italian Council for Refugees (CIR) in Libya, who later helped the migrants to lodge a complaint against Italy to the ECHR.

On Thursday, the ECHR also demanded Italy pay each of the plaintiffs - 11 Somalis and 13 Eritreans - 15,000 euros (19,800 dollars).

Riccardi said the government led by Prime Minister Mario Monti had yet to decide whether to appeal against the ruling.

Italy carried out the deportation as part of its so-called push-back policy, part of a 2008 agreement with then Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi to combat attempts by migrants to cross the Mediterranean and enter Italy illegally.

The ECHR ruled unanimously that the deportation had violated Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights relating to the status of refugees 'on account of the fact that the applicants were exposed to the risk of being subjected to ill-treatment in Libya.'

The ECHR also ruled unanimously that Article 3 of the convention had also been violated in that the migrants 'were exposed to the risk of being repatriated to Somalia and Eritrea,' were they could have faced persecution.

Critics, including the UNHCR and the Catholic Church, had denounced the deal with Gaddafi as a violation of the rights of asylum seekers, since the deportations would take place without first having established whether the people involved were eligible for refugee status.

The UNCHR - which participated in the case before the ECHR - in its submission emphasised that, given the situation prevailing in Libya at that time, push-back policies undermined access to protection for the refugees.

'The UN Refugee Agency believes this judgement provides important guidance to European states in their border control and interception practices,' the UNHCR said Thursday.

Amnesty International said the judgement 'clearly establishes that Italy was obliged to protect the Somalis and Eritreans on the intercepted boat and that it had full knowledge of the dire fate they would suffer by returning them to Libya.'

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