Libya, Mediterranean immigration and political initiative
08/10/2018
The Ionian Sea ship in the central Mediterranean, the Palermo International Conference on Libya, the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the adoption of the Global Pact on Migration: two months of great interest and political commitment ahead of us that could mark a breakthrough.
The “Mediterranea” mission, with the Mare Jonio ship and its crew, has the merit of reaffirming the value of every human life and the duty to help those who risk losing it. It was presented as “an action of moral disobedience and profound civil obedience … to carry out an activity of monitoring, witnessing and denouncing the dramatic situation of the absence of relief supplies, in the silence and complicit indifference of the Italian and European governments”.
The political value of this mission therefore seems to far exceed its humanitarian value. With some risk, however, given the exploitation that will be implemented.
The key point on which that political action should focus is to work to obtain the closure of migrant detention centers in Libya, prosecute traffickers and exploiters of human beings. Next December 10th we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Every Human Being. What more appropriate occasion for a common position of the European Council on its strong political commitment to end the detention of migrants and all forms of trafficking and exploitation of migrants? The next international conference on Libya on 12 and 13 November in Palermo should also include this commitment among the main points under discussion.