From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Jul 10 2010 - 16:42:11 EDT
Libya denies mistreatment of Eritrean migrants
Sat Jul 10, 2010 5:59pm GMT
* Italian sea patrols handed migrants over to Libya
* Libya says Eritreans being treated as "guests"
* Rights watchdog says has reports of Libyan violence
TRIPOLI, July 10 (Reuters) - Libya denied allegations from human rights
groups on Thursday that it was mistreating a group of Eritrean migrants who
had been turned back at sea by Italian patrols and handed over to Libya.
Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg has said he
had information the migrants were subjected to violence by Libyan police,
leaving several of them seriously injured.
Libya says there are 400 refugees in total. Of them, 245 have been turned
back by Italian patrols and handed over to Libya -- a case that has caused a
political row in Italy.
"There are about 400 illegal migrants from Eritrea being held in detention
centres in Libya and they are treated as temporary guests," Libya's official
Jana news agency quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying.
"Libyan authorities have opened the detention centres to humanitarian and
human rights bodies and diplomatic representatives to witness the conditions
and treatment of the migrants," the agency said. "This is in itself a
dismissal of these allegations of mistreatment."
Rights group Amnesty International said in a report last month that Libya
was failing to protect the rights of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who
use the country as a stopping off point on their way to Europe.
The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR has intervened frequently on behalf of
migrants in Libya but the government said in June it had to leave because
its presence was not covered by a convention with the United Nations.
Libya's authorities say they are doing their best to cope with the flow of
migrants and allege that European governments have unfairly burdened them
with the responsibility of policing the EU's southern border.
Libya says it has cut sharply the numbers of migrants trying to reach Europe
since reaching a deal with Italy early last year. Under the deal, illegal
migrants caught by Italian authorities are returned to Libya before being
sent back to their home countries. (Reporting by Maghreb newsroom; Editing
by Maria Golovnina)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserve
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