Global society
all articles
Marco Minniti is well remembered when he became Minister of the Interior in Rome in 2016. "Our recording system was on the verge of collapse."
170,000 migrants from Libya arrived on Italy's shores. "Our prefects feared that the situation would slip out of their hands, and public policy became a problem," the social democrat told the weekend in an interview with La Repubblica.
In a short time, Minniti then negotiated an agreement with the regime in Tripoli in early 2017, which dramatically changed the situation on the Mediterranean. Since then, only a few boats from civil war have arrived in Italy - because the Libyan Coast Guard intercepts most of the refugees and places them in so-called reception centers.
In fact, many of these centers are prisons in which migrants are blackmailed, tortured and raped, and some are abused as soldiers. The German embassy in Niger once spoke of "concentration camp-like conditions" in relation to some prisons under private control.
For critics, the deal is like a pact with the devil
It's a deal that people are reluctant to talk about in Italy. Because for many critics it resembles a pact with the devil. Now he could be terminated. There will be a deadline between Rome and Tripoli this Saturday. If nothing happens by then, the agreement is automatically extended by three years.
Actually, according to the will of the Italian government, the matter should apparently be tacitly staged. But just a few days ago, Amnesty International, Oxfam, and more than 20 other relief organizations responded with an open letter to the government and parliament of Italy. In it, they complain about the situation in the refugee prisons and deadly mistakes of the Coast Guard, which has not saved people in distress.
"We demand that the government and parliament annul the 2017 memorandum without delay," the organizations write. The prison camps would have to be evacuated immediately.
More at SPIEGEL +
Italy's governing parties are in a complicated position. For once, they can not show outraged at the previous Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. After all, the Social Democrats signed the agreement themselves before they lost the election in 2018 and Salvinis Lega came to power with the Five-Star Movement.
"Salvini was all about communication," says Nathalie Tocci, director of the Roman Istituto Affari Internazionali. He led campaigns against aid agencies and gave with strong slogans like "ports to" the strong man. "But the dirty work has done others before." If the new government did not renew the agreement, Tocci said, "it would be just another gift for Salvini."
Therefore, migration policy remains a sensitive issue for Rome, even though the new coalition hopes for peace after Salvini's loss of power. The Social Democrats of the Democratic Party (PD) are wrestling with their left-wing conscience and responsibility for the conditions in the Libyan prison camps. And Luigi Di Maio of the Five-Star Movement supported Salvini's fierce refugee rhetoric when he ruled the country with him until the beginning of September. He does not want to work as a downer now.
Alessandro Di Meo / EPA-EFE / REX
Salvini's policy has long supported: Luigi Di Maio
That's another reason why the government wants to extend the Libya deal. No one can deny that the number of boat people who are coming from Libya to Italy fell from 170,000 to 2,000 within two years, Foreign Minister Di Maio said in Parliament a few days ago. "The agreement works." If Italy were to reduce its aid, there could be serious consequences, according to Di Maio: more people would go to sea, there would be more tragedies on the water.
Motor boats, jeeps and millions of euros for the Libyans
Since 2017, Rome has supported the regime in Tripoli with a three-digit million-euro sum. There were motor boats for the Coast Guard, jeeps for patrols on land and other practical aids. So it should continue in the future. However, the Italian government now wants to demand changes and to set up a bilateral commission with Tripoli. Above all, the situation in the inhuman refugee camps should finally be improved. International organizations should have easier access, alternatives to the camps should be sought.
The new ambivalent Italian migration policy is also felt by the private maritime rescuers. Italy fought less rigorously than in Salvini's time, says Sea-Watch spokesman Ruben Neugebauer. At least landings in Italy are possible again, even if it usually takes several days, until the ships of the sea rescue get assigned a safe haven.
"At the same time, the Italian government is still confiscating the 'Sea-Watch 3' and other rescue vessels, and we have the impression that media-effective situations that could play into Salvini's hands are being avoided," says Neugebauer. "That's why our ships are not released."
AFP
The boat may not continue to leak: Migrant aboard the "Sea-Watch 3"
Recently, the conflict between the sea rescue service and the Libyan coastguard and individual militias, which are likely to benefit from the repatriation of migrants, has intensified. Last weekend, the German rescue ship "Alan Kurdi" collided with a Libyan militia. Men on a speedboat flying the Libyan flag apparently wanted to prevent the rescuers from picking up migrants and firing warning shots.
The crew of "Alan Kurdi" complains that they have been disabled during the rescue. She also fears that a refugee has drowned in the water. In part, the migrants jumped from the Libyan boat into the water to get to "Alan Kurdi".
It is unclear who the men were who threatened the activists outside the Libyan territorial waters. The Libyan Navy distanced itself in a statement from the incident. Also the foreign office could not answer this question in the past week.
Apparently, the Italians negotiated with a trafficker
Again and again, Italy and the EU are accused of supporting Libyan smugglers and militias through their cooperation with Libya. They have found a new business by imprisoning and blackmailing migrants rescued from distress.
For example, Abd al-Rahman Milad, a brutal human trafficker according to the UN, apparently participated in a meeting with Italian intelligence officials in 2017, during which Italy-Libya cooperation was discussed. Marco Minniti, Italy's former Home Secretary, said he did not know about the charges against the man at the time.
Minniti also defends the deal with Tripoli: "I do not regret the pact," he said in "La Repubblica". But he wonders a bit about the public debate. "Now everyone wants to hold me to account," he says. "But nobody demands accountability from Chancellor Merkel for her refugee deal, which she signed with Erdogan six billion euros a year earlier."
This article is part of the project Global Society, for which our reporters report from four continents. The project is long-term and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
What is the project Global Society?
Under the title Global Society, reporters from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe will be reporting on injustices in a globalized world, socio-political challenges and sustainable development. The reportages, analyzes, photo galleries, videos and podcasts appear in the Politics Department of SPIEGEL. The project is long-term and will be supported over three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
Are the journalistic contents independent of the foundation?
Yes. The editorial content is created without the influence of the Gates Foundation.
Do other media have similar projects?
Yes. Major European media such as "The Guardian" and "El País" have created similar sections on their news pages with "Global Development" or "Planeta Futuro" with the support of the Gates Foundation.
Was there already similar projects at SPIEGEL ONLINE?
SPIEGEL ONLINE has already implemented two projects in recent years with the European Journalism Center (EJC) and the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The "Expedition The Day After tomorrow" on Global Sustainability Goals and the journalistic refugee project "The New Arrivals" Several award-winning multimedia reports on the topics of migration and escape have emerged.
Where can I find all the publications on the Global Society?
The pieces can be found at SPIEGEL ONLINE on the topic page Global Society.
