12 pages. So much space is needed for EU diplomats to clarify the terrible fate of migrants in Libyan internment camps - and who benefits from them. The paper served as the basis for a debate in the Council of Ministers working group on asylum and migration on Tuesday. It bears the cumbersome title: "Libya and the Environment: Current Situation and Need for Immediate Action".
The Libyan government is still arbitrarily arresting migrants, according to the report. Around 5,000 migrants were detained in official and unofficial internment camps. Although the Libyan government had signaled to close three detention centers. But concrete plans did not follow the announcement. There are numerous reports of human rights violations, human trafficking, corruption and bribery. "The Libyan government has not taken steps to improve the situation in the centers."
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EU diplomats suspect Libyan government
The terrible conditions in the camps have long been known. However, the report also makes it clear how high the moral price that Europe pays for cooperation with Tripoli. The Libyan government's unwillingness to tackle the problem raises the question of whether it is itself involved, the authors write. The reluctance of Libyan officials was linked to the human rights violations in the camps "and the fact that the facilities are a profitable business for the current Libyan government."
So, at least, the authors of the briefing are sure that the Libyan government will benefit financially from internment camps where migrants are tortured, raped and forced to serve in the war.
This is particularly explosive for two reasons. On the one hand, the EU supports the Libyan government with many millions of euros and numerous programs. The objectives: to fight smuggling networks, to finance state offers, to improve conditions for migrants. However, Libya has improved in the civil war country: nothing.
Second, the EU pays and trains the Libyan Coast Guard. It intercepts refugees in the Mediterranean and has them taken to internment camps. In the ports, they are briefly supplied by relief organizations such as the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Ismail Zitouny / REUTERS
Migrant in the port of Libya: On the way to the internment camp
The support for the Coast Guard is part of a European refugee policy, which increasingly relies on cooperation with third countries. Countries like Turkey, Libya and Morocco are getting money to keep migrants and refugees out of Europe.
Critics say that the EU avoids pictures of suffering refugees. Those who catch migrants already in North Africa must make less difficult decisions in Europe. If videos and eyewitness reports did not always come out of the camps, many Europeans would not know what is happening behind their walls. There are dozens of official and unofficial camps in Libya. The unofficial are controlled by militias, aid organizations do not always have access.
As human traffickers in Libya make money with migrants, the SPIEGEL reported in August. Inside and outside the detention centers, they incarcerate migrants, forcing men and women to call their relatives abroad. They have to send money to stop blows or electric shocks.
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According to Amnesty International, extortion also occurs in some migrant camps run by the Libyan Unity Government. "Corrupt soldiers try to make money," said Matteo de Bellis of Amnesty International. The situation for refugees has worsened once more in Libya in the spring war broke out between the government in Tripoli and the troops of the warlord Khalifa Haftar.
The EU Council report shows how problematic the experiment of Europeans is in Libya. Far fewer people arrive in Italy and Malta since the EU cooperates with the Libyan Coast Guard. However, the situation in the country and in the internment camps is so scandalous that even the EU can not look the other way. In the paper, the Council explicitly calls on the Member States to make greater efforts and develop solutions.
The new plan: Rwanda instead of Europe
Part of the new European strategy is already known. Migrants from Libya are to be flown out to Rwanda in the future. This is what a Memorandum of Understanding between the UNHCR, the Government of Rwanda and the African Union is all about. According to UNHCR data, there are around 500 migrants and Rwanda has up to 30,000 seats.
According to a UNHCR spokesman told Reuters, the budget for the operation will largely come from the EU, even if it does not carry out the flights and has not signed the letter of intent. With the evacuations to Rwanda, the EU is trying to alleviate a problem that it has itself contributed to. According to an EU document, the first flight is scheduled to start on Thursday.
Particularly vulnerable refugees and migrants are to be flown out first and to be accommodated near the capital Kigali. Recognized refugees can be relocated to third countries according to UNHCR data. Some are also to be granted right of residence in Rwanda. Rejected asylum seekers, according to the UNHCR, receive help to return to their home countries.
The UNHCR repeatedly calls for rich states to host migrants under the UNHCR resettlement program. So far, however, this hardly happens, the UNHCR has since 2017 evacuated just under 4000 migrants from Libya.
Most of them have been brought to Niger so far. From there, a large part should be distributed to safe countries. However, because especially the EU states did not provide enough resettlement places, the distribution faltered. Meanwhile, according to an EU report, Niger wants to reduce the center's capacity to 1,000 migrants.
The readiness of the government in Rwanda is convenient for the Europeans. The situation of evacuees will almost certainly be improved. It is unclear, however, how many of the migrants should return to their home countries and how many are distributed to safe countries.
For many, a return to their homeland would mean a return to oppression, persecution and poverty, says Andrej Hunko, European political spokesman for the Left Party in the Bundestag. "Already, African countries are taking the brunt of the care and shelter of people fleeing, as most people are fleeing to neighboring countries."
Migration experts have long been calling for a solution for the refugees in the Libyan camps. So far only a few states are evacuating directly from Libya. These include Italy and Canada, but not Germany. The Federal Government is committed to promoting political talks between the warring parties. On Tuesday, officials and consultants from several governments met for the summit in the Chancellery. Even Germany has so far not even taken in 300 migrants who had been evacuated from Libya across the Niger.