Into Harm’s Way

at

Operation Sophia graphic from the EU; Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan; Tánaiste Simon Coveney; aftermath of airstrike at Tajoura migrant detention centre in Libya; a message Irish journalist Sally Hayden received from a source within the centre

It’s being reported that at least 40 people have been killed following an airstrike on the Tajoura migrant detention centre, east of Tripoli in Libya.

Dublin journalist Sally Hayden – who has been sharing mobile phone conversations with migrants detained in Libyan detention centres and reporting on the conditions of the centres for more than a year – received a text from a person within the camp (above) just after it happened.

She has tweeted that her sources are telling her that the death toll is much higher and that between 140 and 160 people have been killed, however aid agencies are saying this isn’t the case and that the figure is around 60 to 65.

Ms Hayden has also tweeted that a person from Sudan who is detained at the centre told her: “The European Union and the UNHCR must bear responsibility for this massacre.”

In recent weeks, Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan raised with the Tánaiste Simon Coveney the conditions of a separate migrant detention centre – the Qasr bin Ghashir detention camp – in Libya.

She also asked for his views on the treatment of migrants who are being intercepted by the Libyan Coastguard, while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea, and being brought back to Libya where they are incarcerated.

Since 2015, the EU, including Ireland, has been training and providing equipment to the Libyan coastguard via EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia (see graphic above)

Mr Coveney told Ms O’Sullivan that he continues to be “deeply troubled” by the human rights abuses against refugees and migrants in Libya.

But he said:

“It is not EU policy to send people back to Libya, but rather to disrupt the business model of smugglers or traffickers, so as to prevent further loss of life in the Mediterranean.”

Ms O’Sullivan reminded Mr Coveney that the reality is that people who are rescued in the Mediterranean are being returned to these centres.

She added:

“It is immoral, unethical and downright cruel to consign those so-called “rescued” from the Mediterranean to a worse fate by sending them to these centres. There are tens of millions of euro going into support the coastguard in Libya for the refugees to go back to those detention centres.”

During his response, Mr Coveney asserted:

“First, it is not EU policy to send refugees and migrants who have been rescued in the Mediterranean back to Libya. We do not regard that as safe.

“There was an understanding with the Libyan coastguard before the recent violence broke out in Tripoli but since then the functioning of Libya as a state, and the ability of it to protect migrants in camps, has been fundamentally undermined.”

Ms O’Sullivan responded:

“I draw the Tánaiste’s attention to the fact that in the first week in June, there was a submission to the International Criminal Court relating to the current situation calling for the EU and member states to be prosecuted for the deaths of thousands of refugees and migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to flee Libya.

“It is difficult to reconcile what the Tánaiste is saying with the reality that millions of euro went into the so-called rescue training of the coastguards.

“That training left much to be desired because they were taking people from the sea and bringing them to these detention centres. In 2018, 2,500 drowned at sea.

“Perhaps that was the better fate rather than ending up in one of these detention centres which is a living death. It is against international law that one would return refugees to a centre that is in the middle of a war but that is what is continuing to happen in Libya.”

Mr Coveney replied:

“I have stated in both responses that it is not EU policy to return migrants and refugees who are rescued in the Mediterranean to Libya now and I ask the Deputy to stop stating that it is.”

Transcript via Kildarestreet.com

Airstrike Kills Dozens of Migrants at Detention Center in Tripoli (Declan Walsh, New York Times)

Previously: ‘Our Naval Service Is Part Of It’ 

Pic from Tajoura via Malachy Browne

Sponsored Link

7 thoughts on “Into Harm’s Way”

  1. Jake38

    “Ms Hayden has also tweeted that a person from Sudan who is detained at the centre told her: “The European Union and the UNHCR must bear responsibility for this massacre.”

    How is that? I would have thought the armed gang who fired the missiles were responsible.

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      Was thinking that too. The UNHCR provide humanitarian aid and assistance and the EU are merely a trading partner to Sudan, if even that. Who is this Hayden and why is she also exaggerating the death toll figures?

      1. steve white

        She is reporting what she is being told by people there and reporting what other agencies say too.

Comments are closed.

Broadsheet.ie