Relief as Italian court says rescued refugees cannot be sent back to Libya
Al Jazeera
Italy’s highest court has ruled that the country’s vessels cannot return rescued refugees to the North African country.
Tunis, Tunisia – News that an Italian court had blocked the country’s vessels from returning refugees and migrants to Libya was welcomed by the tens of refugees and migrants camped in a crowded passage outside the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Tunis.
Many of those outside the IOM that day had escaped from Libya and had first-hand knowledge of the abuse that people face there.
Armed gangs and militias have governed much of Libya since it emerged from the 2011 revolution that overthrew long-term dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
As the militias’ influence has grown, so too has their control over lucrative human trafficking networks, which have soared in volume since the days when Gaddafi could worry Europe by threatening to ease his foot off Libya’s human pipeline to its coast.
Those militias, reportedly along with Libya’s Europe-backed coastguard, now exert ruthless control over the trade, with unprotected refugees and migrants crossing the country from sub-Saharan Africa routinely intercepted and held hostage in a network of coastal prisons.
