Amnesty accuses Malta of using illegal tactics when dealing with migrants at sea

Amnesty International has accused the Maltese government of resorting to dangerous and illegal measures when dealing with the arrival of refugees and migrants at sea.

In a scathing statement, Amnesty accused the government of putting people's lives at risk.

The accusations were published in Amnesty’s latest report, Waves of Impunity: Malta’s Human Rights Violations, Europe’s Responsibilities in the Central Mediterranean.

Amnesty said it will also be looking into the growing despair on board the Maersk Etienne, which for over a month has been denied a port to disembark 27 people it had rescued in the Mediterranean. The Etienne is moored on Hurd's Bank just outside Maltese territorial waters.

On Sunday, three migrants aboard the vessel jumped overboard in despair.

READ MORE: Three migrants aboard oil tanker Maersk Etienne jump overboard in desperation

Amnesty's report is the latest condemnation of Malta's hardline stand towards migration since Robert Abela became prime minister in January.

“The Maltese government’s change in approach to arrivals in the central Mediterranean in 2020 has seen them take unlawful, and sometimes unprecedented, measures to avoid assisting refugees and migrants,” the organisation said.

Amnesty said these tactics included arranging unlawful pushbacks to Libya, diverting boats towards Italy rather than rescuing people in distress, illegally detaining hundreds of people on ill-equipped ferries in Malta’s waters, and signing a new agreement with Libya to prevent people from reaching Malta.

“Malta is stooping to ever more despicable and illegal tactics to shirk their responsibilities to people in need. Shamefully, the EU and Italy have normalised cooperation with Libya on border control, but sending people back to danger in Libya is anything but normal,” regional researcher at Amnesty International, Elisa De Pieri said.

“EU member states must stop assisting in the return of people to a country where they face unspeakable horrors,” she said.

Amnesty said that some of the actions taken by the government may have involved criminal acts being committed, resulting in avoidable deaths, prolonged arbitrary detention, and illegal returns to a war-torn Libya.

They also highlighted that the government used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to declare that Malta was not a safe place to disembark to discourage people from seeking safety.

“The abusive practices by Malta are part and parcel of wider efforts by EU  member  states and institutions to outsource the control of the central Mediterranean to Libya, in order that EU-supported Libyan authorities might intercept refugees and migrants at sea before they reach Europe,” Amnesty said.

The organisation said that people were returned to Libya and arbitrarily detained in places where torture and other ill-treatment is highly likely.

They said from January to 27 August, 7,256 people were ‘pulled back’ to Libya by the EU-supported Libyan Coast Guard.

Easter Monday pushback and lack of accountability

Amnesty said that the Easter Monday pushback illustrated the desperate lengths to which the Maltese authorities were willing to go to prevent people from arriving on the island.

They said that on 15 April, a group of 51 people, including seven women and three children, were unlawfully returned to Tripoli after being rescued in Malta’s search and rescue region by the commercial fishing boat Dar Al Salam 1.

The boat, they said, which was contracted by the government, took those on board back to Libya and handed them over to the Libyan authorities, exposing refugees and migrants – who had just survived a deadly shipwreck – to further risks to their life.

“Five people were dead when the vessel reached Libya, and the survivors reported that a further seven people were missing at sea. Survivors reported that those on board were not given medical assistance. In an official statement the Maltese authorities confirmed they had coordinated the operation,” the organisation said.

Amnesty said the subsequent magisterial inquiry into the case left many questions unanswered – they highlighted that it is still unknown how the 12 people died and how 51 were returned to Libya despite it being illegal to transfer people there.

“The magistrate conducting the inquiry did not hear the testimonies of the 51 people transferred to Libya, nor probe the chain of responsibility to contract the Dar El Salam 1 and instruct it to transfer people to Libya,” they said.

EU and Italian cooperation with Libya

Amnesty also highlighted that Italy too was working closely with Libya, having provided support to Libyan maritime authorities by providing vessels, training and assisting in the establishment of a Libyan SAW region to facilitate pullbacks by the Libyan coastguard.

“Despite intensifying conflict and the arrival of COVID-19 threatening the humanitarian situation of refugees and migrants in Libya, Italy has continued to implement policies to keep people in Libya,” they said.

These include extending its Memorandum of Understanding on Migration with Libya aimed at boosting Libyan authorities’ resources to prevent departures, for another three years, extending its military operations in the region focusing on supporting Libya’s maritime authorities, and maintaining legislation and practices aimed at the criminalisation of NGOs rescuing people in the central Mediterranean.

Amnesty said that the EU urgently needed an independent and effective human rights monitoring system at its external borders to ensure accountability for violations and abuses.

“The European Commission must turn the page when they launch the new pact on migration and asylum after the summer and ensure European border control and European migration policies uphold the rights of refugees and migrants,” said De Pieri.

“The horrors faced by people returned to Libya must caution European leaders against cooperating with countries which don’t respect human rights. By continuing to empower abusers and to hide their heads in the sand when violations are committed, those EU leaders share responsibility for them," she said.