In a new report titled "Libya's Dark Web of Collusion", Amnesty International says the EU finances the Libyan coastguard and officials running the country's detention camps to carry out torture and exploitation.

At present, the human rights group says about 20,000 people are detained in detention centers in Libya.

The aim is to stem the flow of people across the Mediterranean to Europe "... with little thought, or seeming care for the consequences for those trapped in Libya as a result."

Irregular entry, stay and exit are criminal offences in Libya.

"The lack of any judicial oversight of the detention process and the near total impunity with which officials operate has facilitated the institutionalisation of torture and other ill-treatment in detention [centers]," the Amnesty report says.

The organisation further reports the EU "routinely acts in collusion with militia groups and people traffickers to 'make money from human suffering'".

After ships, training and funding from the EU and Italy were provided to the Libyan coastguard, Amnesty says the number of arrivals in Italy fell by 67% between July and November compared with the same period in 2016.

Deaths at sea have correspondingly reduced.

Furthermore, Amnesty says the coastguard and those to whom they hand over refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, are often acting with criminal gangs and militia.

Amnesty claims the coastguard and smugglers sometimes mark boats to allow vessels to pass through Libyan waters without interception.

At the same time, the coastguard sometimes escorts boats out to international waters.

Refugees and migrants intercepted on their way to Europe are sent to camps run by the Libyan general directorate for combating illegal migration.

They are then routinely tortured for money, Amnesty reports.

Source

• The Guardian
• National Public Radio,Inc
• Aljazeera
• Image: Thomson Reuters Foundation News

When we began getting pictures of Syrians walking into Europe last week and our media became awash with the story, my heart was stuck on one question: why is this happening now?

The Syrian civil war has been raging for four years. The atrocities of Isis are reason enough for anyone to flee but they have been happening for a while and I'd not read of an upsurge of late.

Why are so many people on the move now?

What on earth has just happened that could cause the parents of that drowned boy to put him at such risk?

Oddly, the coverage wasn't asking these things. When such an obvious element of a story is missing I worry about why that might be.

Night after night, images on the screen left the impression these people were coming from Syria and words accompanying the images made little effort to dispel the impression.

It took me a while to realise these people had left Syria years ago. They were coming from refugee camps in Turkey.

United Nations refugee camps are wretched places, as we know from Rachel Smalley's reporting for the Herald and World Vision this year.

She described some appalling dangers, particularly for barely pubescent girls who have to get married for safety.

But, dangerous as the camps may be, the millions living in them would not be there if they presented imminent life-threatening peril to most of those seeking asylum.

Most of the people now pouring into Europe are clearly not in urgent need of refuge, the majority appear to be young men on the make, and good luck to them.

I'm all for economic migrants. I think Australia should quietly welcome the boats. People with the energy and pluck, not to mention the money to pay smugglers, will probably be productive citizens. Continue reading

• John Roughan is an editorial writer and columnist for The New Zealand Herald.

They know they are putting their lives at risk. Nevertheless, many people board ramshackle watercraft and set sail from the coast of Africa in the hope of a better life in Europe.

While a few years ago it was predominately North African migrants coming to Italy in search of work, today it is often refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia who are fleeing chaos and violence in their countries. The number of asylum applications in Europe has sharply increased in the past six years.

Refugees are "particularly vulnerable people," warned German President Joachim Gauck after hundreds of people drowned off the coast of Lampedusa on Thursday. "Protecting lives and granting refugees the chance to be heard is at the foundation of our legal and moral codes," he concluded. On Tuesday, the EU interior ministers gathered in Luxembourg to discuss the consequences of the accident, which resulted in around 300 deaths. But despite heavy criticism, they couldn't manage to come to a decision about comprehensive change to European asylum policy.

The expectations of refugees who come to Europe often go unfulfilled. Many must struggle through long asylum application processes or fight against ingrained local prejudice. In some countries, they endure appalling living conditions in refugee camps; in others, they end up on the streets.

The correspondents of SPIEGEL ONLINE report on the situation in various European countries.

ITALY

By Hans-Jürgen Schlamp

The Lampedusa disaster has shaken the world — especially Italy. The populace watches the images on television with horror, the body bags lined up across the beach. How can this be? "A disgrace," says Pope Francis. "Yes," agree many, "a disgrace." There is talk of solidarity. Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta awarded posthumous Italian citizenship to the deceased. Continue reading

Sources

• Spiegel Online
• Image: euobserver.com

SPIEGEL: Mr. Laqueur, you experienced Europe and the Europeans in the best and the worst of times. Historical hot spots and the stations of your personal biography were closely and sometimes dramatically intertwined. Which conclusions have you reached today, at the advanced age of 92?

Laqueur: I became a historian of the postwar era in Europe, but the Europe I knew no longer exists. My book "Out of the Ruins of Europe," published in 1970, ended with an optimistic assessment of the future. Later, in 2008, "The Last Days of Europe: Epitaph for an Old Continent" was published. I returned to the subject in my latest book, "After the Fall: The End of the European Dream and the Decline of a Continent." The sequence of titles probably says it all.

SPIEGEL: The last two, at any rate, sound as if the demise of the Western world were imminent.

Laqueur: Europe will not be buried by ashes, like Pompeii or Herculaneum, but Europe is in decline. It's certainly horrifying to consider its helplessness in the face of the approaching storms. After being the center of world politics for so long, the old continent now runs the risk of becoming a pawn.

SPIEGEL: Fortunately, the European Union refrained from pursuing any imperial ambitions. Nevertheless, it remains an impressive entity, both politically and economically, despite the financial and debt crisis.

Laqueur: Europe will likely remain influential in the future as an economic power and trading partner. But the continent still isn't standing on its own feet politically and militarily today. This wouldn't be that important if power politics didn't play a role and conflicts were resolved peacefully by the United Nations or the International Court of Justice. But the conflicts have not decreased. Their inherent fanaticism and passions continue to burn, as we can now see, once again, in Syria and in Egypt. Under these circumstances, is it realistic to call for European independence in global politics? Continue reading

Sources

• Spiegel Online
• Frontpage Mag