Pushed Back, Pushed Around

Italy’s Forced Return of Boat Migrants and Asylum Seekers, Libya’s Mistreatment of Migrants and Asylum Seekers

Map of Southern Europe and North Africa

I. Summary

I. Recommendations

To the Government of Libya

To the Government of Italy

To European Union Institutions and EU Member States

To the Management Board of Frontex

To the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

III. Methodology and Scope

IV. Terminology

Migrants

Smugglers

V. Italian-Libyan “Friendship” and the Return of Boat Migrants to Libya

VI. Interdiction and the Principle of Nonrefoulement

VII. The Approach of the European Union Towards Libya

Outsourcing EU migration and asylum policy

The Role of Frontex

VIII. Maltese and Libyan Interdiction Prior to May 2009

IX. Failure to Rescue Boats in Distress at Sea

X. Libya: Lack of Access to Asylum

XI. UNHCR in Libya

XII. Linkages between Smugglers and Security and Law Enforcement Officials

Police and Smugglers: Bribes, Extortion, and Robbery

XIII. Abuses against Vulnerable Migrant Groups

Abuse of Women Migrants

Abuse of Unaccompanied Children

XIV. Abuses Entering Libya

Abuses in Libya’s Western Border Region

XV. Refoulement from Libya and Dumping People in the Desert near the Border

Dumping in the Desert

XVI. Migrant Detention Centers: Conditions and Abuses

Kufra

Tripoli Area Migrant Detention Facilities

Detention Centers along Libya’s Northwestern Coast (outside Tripoli)

Acknowledgements