Citing abuse in Libya, critics tell Italy to let boats in

Record ID: 1136865

  • Title: Citing abuse in Libya, critics tell Italy to let boats in
  • Date: 6th July 2018
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (RECENT - JUNE 25, 2018) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) SALVINI SAYING: "In a month (a reception centre) will be ready for 1,000 migrants with the cooperation of UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency), so we can dismantle all the madness, all the rhetoric from people saying they torture people in Libya and ignore human rights. This centre will be cutting edge i
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2018 10:49
  • Keywords: humanitarian rescue ships Libyan detention centres migrants smugglers
  • Location: ROME, ITALY/AT SEA
  • City: ROME, ITALY/AT SEA
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA0058NLZ2H3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Italy's new government is shutting its ports to humanitarian rescue ships but non-governmental organisations this week have warned the policy will lead to more migrants being trapped in brutal Libyan detention centres.
    Nigerian Charles Otokiti, 37, was rescued at sea after passing through Libya in 2016. He has scars on his legs and arms after being severely beaten with pipes by the smugglers he paid to put him on a boat bound for Italy.
    In Tripoli, he was held for three months in a warehouse with some 700 others by guards who wore uniforms, though he was unsure if they worked for the state. They were fed once a day a ladle of stew in the palm of their hands.
    Otokiti, who is a practicing Catholic, has been granted asylum and wants to bring his wife and 5-year-old twins to Italy from Lagos. He says he is thankful for the public healthcare system, which treats the chronic leg pain he has as a result of beatings in Libya. He now wants to find a job.
    The U.N., humanitarian groups and the media have repeatedly reported on the inhumane conditions for migrants in Libya, where people smugglers operate with impunity. With less rescue ships operating at sea and an expected summer surge in departures, conditions in the centres are only expected to get worse, NGO's warn.
    "Our perception about people coming from Libya is that the violence is serial," Gianfranco De Maio, MSF's global supervisor for its treatment of torture victims, told Reuters.
    Italy's new far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who took office on June 1, has said the rescue ships are no longer welcome, forcing them to disembark elsewhere. None are currently patrolling off the Libyan coast. Salvini recently visited a newly constructed and still empty centre in Tripoli and told media following the visit that he had seen no sign of torture or any violation of human rights.
    Otokiti is one of the lucky ones who survived his journey to Italy. A side effect of the Italian policy has been an increase in the death rate. From the start of June to July 2, 565 people, or 1 in 13 of those who set out from the Libyan coast, drowned or went missing, compared with 1 in 43 during the first five months of the year, according to Italy's Institute for Studies on International Politics (ISPI), a think tank.
    Though arrivals from Libya are already down more than 85 percent this year, Salvini's hard line has paid off in terms of support for his League party, which has nearly doubled since the March 4 national election.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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