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Matthew Vella
An AFM major’s report proposing controversial tactics to stop illegal immigration, such as confiscating fuel from incoming boats and turning them back to Libya, is believed to have reached Frontex, the EU borders agency, as part of a Maltese proposal.
The author of the report, maritime squadron commander Martin Cauchi Inglott, said he would not comment on the details of his paper which appeared in last Sunday’s it-Torca. “I cannot comment on operational details,” Major Cauchi Inglott said, evidently upset that such a confidential report had been leaked to the press.
Armed Forces of Malta commander Carmel Vassallo also refused to comment on the paper, which is believed to be a mission proposal enjoying the backing of both France and Germany.
MaltaToday is informed Major Cauchi Inglott’s proposal was an own-initiative report which did not carry any endorsement from army superiors. Brigadier Carmel Vassallo refused to comment on this point.
The Office of the Prime Minister also skirted the issue of Cauchi Inglott’s highly controversial proposals, such as the confiscation of fuel and motorboats aboard the main vessel, which could be contrary to international law.
Asked on the government’s position on the report, the OPM’s press officer said: “It’s a pity that certain people, out of pure personal ambition, divulge the contents of internal discussion papers.” According to last Sunday’s newspaper report, Cauchi Inglott’s proposal is based on an earlier document submitted back in July, which called for the establishment of a joint-EU interdiction force against immigration, dubbed EUMINTFOR.
His proposal calls for support from other EU member states to deploy five ships, including a military frigate, and air support, to turn back all incoming traffic from Libya suspected of being potential illegal immigrants.
According to the newspaper report, Cauchi Inglott would have suggested how Greece should be brought on board the missions due to its experience in turning away boats back to Turkey.
The more controversial proposals include confiscating fuel supplies, and turning the boats away with just enough fuel to reach their Libyan departure point.
Cauchi-Inglott has also authored another proposal with international relations expert Stephen C. Calleya on the setting-up of an EU coastguard agency, a precursor of the EU borders agency.
Europe’s show of force on the high seas is already struck by waves of protest: doubts persist on the legality of using military vessels to intercept boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers headed towards Europe and towing them back to Libyan waters.
Malta, a keen supporter of the patrols, will now be part of a round-table conference in which the UNHCR and the Jesuit Refugee Service are expected to tackle the legality of joint-EU patrols led by its border agency Frontex.
Also expected to be present, apart from Frontex, UNHCR and European Court of Human Rights officials, is the Oxford University’s eminent barrister Vaughan Lowe, who recently represented Palestine at the International Court of Justice in the case over the Israeli wall erected in occupied Palestine.
“We will argue that any army vessel, as a branch of government, will have to assume its country’s international obligations once it intercepts any incoming boat, and that includes informing people of their right to asylum,” UNHCR representative Neil Falzon says.
There is still much to suggest that the latest deterrent concocted by the EU to curb migration is objectionable in terms of member states’ international obligations.
Among these is the international norm of non-refoulement, which prohibits states from sending people to a country whose lives or freedoms could be threatened.
Which is why the interception of incoming migrants in international waters, could risk punishing genuine refugees with a claim for asylum by sending them back to Libya, which is not a signatory of the Geneva Convention on Refugees.
Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch warned that the Libyan government had subjected migrants, many of them asylum seekers, to serious human rights violations including physical abuse and enforced repatriation. The 135-page report has also alleged that Italy has expelled groups of people back to Libya in violation of national and international asylum obligations.
“Everyone has a right to navigate on the high seas, which means a vessel cannot be stopped unless it has committed an offence,” Falzon says.
That offence could easily include the illegal departure from Libya itself or the illegal status of an unregistered boat, but it is clear that countries like Italy and Malta are aiming at blocking asylum seekers from reaching their waters and kicking their international obligations into action, where they would have to tow them to safety and inform of their right to seek asylum.
Despite the bid to push back asylum seekers from Europe, there are doubts over the effectiveness of the sea patrols. EU Commissioner Franco Frattini has admitted that Frontex was in dire straits and was not coping with its mission in Spain’s Canary Islands, where the landing of 1,000 African migrants last week pushed Spain’s humanitarian crisis to unprecedented levels.
Dubbed “Jason 1”, the Frontex seaborne operations to intercept departures from Libya’s uncontrollable 1,100-mile coastline, are arguably controversial.
“There is a risk of suddenly pitting any genuine asylum seekers in a legal limbo. If they are intercepted on the high seas, they cannot tow them back inside Libyan waters without Libya’s permission,” Falzon says. “And should they intercepted on high seas, can they just send them back without informing them of their right to seek asylum? Which country would then assume responsibility of those claims?”
Libya, which has been adamant in refusing access to the EU inside its waters, has so far performed a volte-face after striking a bilateral agreement with Italy over joint patrols of its waters. Both states will have national police representatives in their country to coordinate operations.
The deal has left in doubt the patrols which Italy, Malta and Greece were planning on running in the area stretching towards Libya.
Even in the eventuality of Libya’s collaboration, there are problems in devising a strategy over how to ensure that those seeking asylum can rightfully apply for international protection if they are intercepted at sea.
Falzon says the UNHCR wants to see any such patrols being protection-oriented, which means getting the EU states to respect their international obligations to inform intercepted migrants of their right to asylum.
“Army officers are not trained on how to handle asylum claims, which is why any such patrol should be protection-oriented, and have to address the probability that asylum seekers are on board these vessels and have a right to seek asylum.”
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
Links:
www.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/08/06/t8.html |
