Italy/Libya: Pushed Back, Pushed Around

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The crew of the Bovienzo, an Italian Guardia di Finanza patrol boat. © 2009 Enrico Dagnino 66950
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About 80 irregular boat migrants from various African countries pack into an inflatable rubber dinghy, attempting to cross over from Tripoli, Libya. They are short of food and water, and have run out of gas. They were drifting at sea for at least 48 hours before the Bovienzo intercepted them on the evening of Wednesday, May 6. © 2009 Enrico Dagnino 66950
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The irregular migrants attempt to grab onto a ladder to climb aboard the Bovienzo. © 2009 Enrico Dagnino 66950
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The migrants include about a dozen women. © 2009 Enrico Dagnino 66950
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A man pours water over a dehydrated fellow migrant. © 2009 Enrico Dagnino 66950
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During the early morning hours of May 7, the Bovienzo heads back to Libya. The migrants are not informed of their destination. © 2009 Enrico Dagnino 66950
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Thursday May 7, 7:00 am. The Bovienzo heads south to Tripoli, Libya. © 2009 Enrico Dagnino 66950
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On arrival in Tripoli, one of the migrants gets down on his knees to beg an Italian officer on the Bovienzo not to send him back. The photographer reported that he said, “They are going to beat us up again, I do not want to go back to Libya.” © 2009 Enrico Dagnino 66950
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The crew of the Bovienzo carries an irregular migrant off board and onto the dock in Tripoli. The migrants, whose nationalities were not established prior to being disembarked, were interdicted 30 miles east of the island of Lampedusa, Italy. The return operation followed a new Friendship Treaty between Italy and Libya. © 2009 Enrico Dagnino 66950
On May 6, 2009, for the first time in the post-World War II era, a European state ordered its coast guard and naval vessels to interdict and forcibly return boat migrants on the high seas without doing any screening whatsoever to determine whether any passengers needed protection or were particularly vulnerable. The interdicting state was Italy; the receiving state was Libya. Italian authorities towed migrant boats from international waters without even a cursory screening to see whether some might be refugees or whether others might be sick or injured, pregnant women, unaccompanied children, or victims of trafficking.