I diritti umani dei migranti in Libia: due anni di vigenza del Memorandum d’intesa Italia-Libia

The present essay intends to provide for an explanation about the issue of the migrants’ human rights in Libya, in the light of the collaboration between Italy and Libya, which is ultimately based on the Memorandum of Understanding (also known as MoU), signed on 2 february 2017. In this connection, after analysing the MoU’s main characteristics, we found out that, from 2017 to 2019, the entire amount of landings into the italian territory has been sharply reduced from 119,369 arrivals in 2017 to 550 in 2019. The Mou has thus become a part of a broader italian strategy, aimed to the externalisation of the migratory issue. It follows that the less Italy is involved in resolving such question, the more the Lybian institutions are able to grab migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, and bring them back to Libya. Accordingly, this kind of strategy, and in particular the support to the Libyan Coast Guard, gives rise to gross violations of human rights, which are well-known throught the presence of the UN mission in Libya . According to the UNSMIL’s reports, the migrants are forced to live in both governmental and non-governmental overcrowded centres, which are sometimes controlled by armed groups and local militia, and in which they undergo flagrant and gross violations of human rights. In the light of the above, we certainly take the view that Libya cannot provide any assistence to the migrants, neither humanitarian, nor judicial (and therefore it cannot be viewed as a Place of Safety) and that its institutions are engaging in the migratory issue in such a manner that is not consistent with the international human rights law.