Abstract
The so-called “migration crisis” that Europe has been facing since 2015 has led the European Union (UE) to reconsider its partnership with countries of origin and transit, especially Libya, as crucial in the fight against migration. In the meantime, extremely worrying accounts of horrors and serious human rights violations (including slave auctions) perpetrated against migrants and asylum-seekers detained in Libya by members of the Libyan security forces, armed groups and criminal gangs emerge from that country. From this observation and using an effort of analysis and critical reflection based on review of the relevant literature, this chapter attempts to answer the following two key questions: (i) To what extent can it be assumed that the EU indirectly exposes migrants and asylum seekers to unimaginable horrors by directly funding their detention system in Libya? (ii) Is EU cooperation with Libya undertaken in accordance with the values and principles enshrined in Articles 2 and 21 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), on which the EU is founded? In this sense, the axial goal of this chapter is to analyse the adequacy or lack of adequacy to international and European law of ongoing EU cooperation with Libya in the area of migration and asylum. It therefore concludes by arguing that, to become a true “civil power” and contribute to good global governance of human mobility, the EU must align its migration control policies with its founding principles and values under European and international law.
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Notes
- 1.
Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders, opened for signature 14 June 1985, OJ L239 (entered into force 26 March 1995), pp. 19–62.
- 2.
European Council (2017) News on migration, digital Europe, security and defence. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/es/meetings/european-council/2017/10/19-20/. Accessed 1 December 2019.
- 3.
Frontex 2019, p. 16.
- 4.
European Parliament (2017) EU migrant crisis: facts and figures. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20170629STO78630/asylum-and-migration-in-the-eu-facts-and-figures. Accessed 21 October 2018; European Commission (2017) The EU and the migration crisis. https://op.europa.eu/webpub/com/factsheets/migration-crisis/en/. Accessed 21 October 2018.
- 5.
Kingsley P (2015) 10 truths about Europe’s migrant crisis. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/10/10-truths-about-europes-refugee-crisis. Accessed 2 December 2019; in his own words, Gil Arias, Deputy Director of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex), said: "We call them immigrants for the sake of simplicity, but perhaps the term refugees should be used. The situation today is that more than 80% of immigrants arriving in Europe are potential beneficiaries of international protection. See Sanmartín O R (2015) Frontex: 'El 80% de los inmigrantes que llegan a Europa son potenciales refugiados' [80% of immigrants arriving in Europe are potential refugees]. https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2015/04/30/554221e5e2704e9f668b4571.html. Accessed 2 December 2019.
- 6.
UNHCR 2015.
- 7.
According to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, the Frontex successor, in 2015 international airports were one of the major entry routes for immigrants into the EU, since most of those residing irregularly in the EU had initially come into possession of valid travel documents and an expired visa. By land and sea, the main migratory routes to the EU were: West Africa; the Western Mediterranean; the Central Mediterranean; Apulia and Calabria; Albania to Greece; the Western Balkans; and the Eastern Mediterranean, in addition to the Eastern border route. See in this regard https://frontex.europa.eu/along-eu-borders/migratory-map/ (link no longer active).
- 8.
See International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2017 Missing Migrants: tracking deaths along migratory routes. https://missingmigrants.iom.int/. Accessed 5 December 2019. An updated review to 2018 of the main migratory routes towards the EU can be found, inter alia, in Atanassov and Radjenovic 2018, pp. 20–22.
- 9.
Eurostat 2016.
- 10.
UNHCR 2015, above n. 6.
- 11.
UNHCR 2018, pp. 15–18.
- 12.
IDMC 2015, p. 11.
- 13.
IDMC 2017, p. 4.
- 14.
Terminski 2013, p. 13.
- 15.
For more on this thorny subject, see, among others, Alvaredo et al 2017.
- 16.
Rajagopal B (2001) The Violence of Development. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2001/08/09/the-violence-of-development/1b169574-3992-44ec-bff9-a1e42857f192/. Accessed 21 November 2019.
- 17.
- 18.
European Commission 2015b.
- 19.
For further details, see European Council (2015) Special meeting of the European Council, 23 April 2015—statement. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/european-council/2015/04/23/. Accessed 9 December 2019.
- 20.
Ibid.
- 21.
European Commission 2015a.
- 22.
Which reads as follows: “In the event of one or more Member States being confronted by an emergency situation characterised by a sudden inflow of nationals of third countries, the Council, on a proposal from the Commission, may adopt provisional measures for the benefit of the Member State(s) concerned. It shall act after consulting the European Parliament.”
- 23.
European Commission 2015a, above n. 21.
- 24.
Stroobants J and Revault d'Allonnes D (2015) La lettre commune de François Hollande et d’Angela Merkel pour accueillir les réfugiés en Europe. https://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2015/09/05/la-lettre-commune-de-francois-hollande-et-d-angela-merkel-pour-accueillir-les-refugies-en-europe_4745852_3214.html. Accessed 24 May 2020.
- 25.
For a critical review of these measures, see, among others, Piçarra 2016, pp. 30–38.
- 26.
Piçarra 2016, p. 30.
- 27.
Carrera et al. 2015, p. 2.
- 28.
Delegation of the European Union to Mali (2016) Remarks by the HRVP Federica Mogherini at the press conference on the progress under the Migration Partnership Framework. https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/mali/12352/remarks-by-the-hrvp-federica-mogherini-at-the-press-conference-on-the-progress-under-the-migration-partnership-framework_it. Accessed 3 November 2019.
- 29.
Koenig 2017, pp. 4–6.
- 30.
European Commission 2011.
- 31.
Ibid., p. 3.
- 32.
European Commission 2016.
- 33.
For a detailed analysis of such instruments, see García Andrade and Martín 2015, pp. 22–50.
- 34.
European Commission 2016, above n. 32, p. 6.
- 35.
Süddeutsche Zeitung (2016) Wien droht Herkunftsländern von Flüchtlingen mit Sanktionen [Vienna threatens refugees' countries of origin with sanctions]. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/abschiebungen-wien-droht-herkunftslaendern-von-fluechtlingen-mit-sanktionen-1.3313876. Accessed 1 December 2019.
- 36.
Koenig 2017, p. 5.
- 37.
European Council, Valletta summit on migration, 11–12 November 2015—action plan and political declaration. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pressreleases/2015/11/12-valletta-final-docs/. Accessed 23 December 2019. Adopted by leaders from the EU and Africa, the Valletta action plan sets out five priority domains of cooperation: (1) addressing the root causes of irregular migration and developing the benefits of migration; (2) promoting regular migration and mobility; (3) reinforcing protection and asylum policies; (4) fighting against human trafficking and migrant smuggling; and (5) strengthening cooperation to facilitate return and reintegration of irregular migrants.
- 38.
CINI and CONCORD 2018, p. 6.
- 39.
Koch et al. 2018.
- 40.
EU-Jordan Association Council (2016) Council Decision No 1/2016 of 19 December 2016 agreeing on EU-Jordan Partnership Priorities [2016/2388]. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:22016D2388&from=EN. Accessed 24 May 2020.
- 41.
EU-Lebanon Association Council (2016) Council Decision No 1/2016 of 11 November 2016 agreeing on EU-Lebanon Partnership Priorities [2016/2368]. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:22016D2368&from=SV. Accessed 24 May 2020.
- 42.
European Council (2016) EU-Turkey statement, 18 March 2016. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18/eu-turkey-statement/. Accessed 22 November 2019. Controversial and heavily criticized by human rights organisations, the deal was simultaneously hailed as a success by the European Commission and several EU member states. It meant that, with the aim of lowering the death tolls in the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey would strengthen its border patrols and coast guards, ensuring that asylum seekers and migrants would not be able to leave Turkey for Europe. In return Turkey would receive €6 billion in aid from the EU.
- 43.
European Council (2016) Conclusions. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/21645/28-euco-conclusions.pdf. Accessed 26 December 2019. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/06/28-euco-conclusions/. Accessed 24 May 2020.
- 44.
Ibid.
- 45.
European Commission 2017a.
- 46.
European Council and Council of the EU (2017) Malta Declaration by the members of the European Council on the external aspects of migration: addressing the Central Mediterranean route. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2017/02/03/malta-declaration/. Accessed 14 December 2019.
- 47.
European Council and Council of the EU (2017) European Council, 19–20 October 2017. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/es/meetings/european-council/2017/10/19-20/. Accessed 14 December 2019.
- 48.
CNN (2017) United Nations (UN) chief: Libya slave auctions may be crimes against humanity. http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/20/africa/un-secretary-general-libya-slave-auctions/index.html. Accessed 17 December 2019.
- 49.
Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the European Union, 2012, OJ C326.
- 50.
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, 2002, OJ C364/1.
- 51.
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, opened for signature 28 July 1951, UNTS 189:37 (entered into force 22 April 1954).
- 52.
Protocol to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, opened for signature 31 January 1967, UNTS 606:267 (entered into force 4 October 1967).
- 53.
Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, 2012, OJ C 326 (TFEU).
- 54.
De Bruycker and Tsourdi 2016.
- 55.
For a more in-depth description and analysis of the legislative acts that make up the Common European Asylum System to date, see Piçarra 2016, above n. 25.
- 56.
Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person (Dublin Regulation III), OJ L 180/31, 29 June 2013.
- 57.
De Bruycker and Tsourdi 2016.
- 58.
UNSC 2011.
- 59.
European Commission 2016, above n. 32.
- 60.
IOM 2016.
- 61.
IOM 2017.
- 62.
Danish Refugee Council (DRC) 2018, p. 3.
- 63.
Koenig 2017, p. 16.
- 64.
UN (2017) “Suffering of migrants in Libya outrage to conscience of humanity” says the UN human rights chief. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22393. Accessed 24 May 2020.
- 65.
Martín M, Burgos R and D'Agostino L (2018) Spain ignores pleas to not send rescued migrants back to Libya. https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2018/11/28/inenglish/1543393941_790926.html. Accessed 28 November 2019. “I entered Libya when I was 12. The Libyans only want money; they put us in jail so we will pay them. They put me in prison for one year and I was not able to shower even once. When I was on the boat and I saw the Libyan Coast Guard coming near I jumped in the water, because I am not afraid of dying, I am afraid of Libya'', said a young Sudanese man among the rescued migrants by the fishing boat Nuestra Madre de Loreto.
- 66.
European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) (2019) ICC Submission Seeks to Hold the EU Accountable for Creation of “World’s Deadliest Migration Route”. https://www.ecre.org/icc-submission-seeks-to-hold-the-eu-accountable-for-creation-of-worlds-deadliest-migration-route/. Accessed 17 November 2019.
- 67.
ECtHR, Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy, Judgment (Grand Chamber), 23 February 2012, App. No. 27765/09.
- 68.
Wriedt 2019.
- 69.
CINI and CONCORD 2018, pp. 19–20.
- 70.
European Commission 2017b, pp. 10–14.
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dos Santos Soares, A., Beck-Mannagetta, S. (2021). EU Cooperation with Third Countries on Migration and Asylum: The Case of Libya Revisited. In: Douma, W.T., Eckes, C., Van Elsuwege, P., Kassoti, E., Ott, A., Wessel, R.A. (eds) The Evolving Nature of EU External Relations Law. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-423-5_16
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