Ghana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Harold Adlai Agyeman stressed the need to respect the rights of migrants who cross from Libya to Europe.
In a press conference in New York on Thursday, he called on Libya to “immediately end violations against migrants” and urged all states to “step up and increase access to pathways for safe and regular migration for migrants trapped in Libya.”
“Our position has always emphasized the need to respect the rights of these migrants crossing from Libya,” he added. “This desperate situation requires all to ensure that no migrant is compelled to accept a return to an unsafe or unsustainable situation in their country of origin.”
Notably, several humanitarian groups urged Italy on Wednesday to scrap a controversial EU-sponsored deal with Libya, to stop migrant boat crossings to Europe.
Under the 2017 accord, Italy and the EU help fund, train, and equip the Libyan Coast Guard, which then intercepts migrants in the Mediterranean and forcibly returns them to the strife-torn country.
Campaigners say nearly 100,000 people have been intercepted in this way over five years. Many are believed to have ended up in Libyan detention centers.
Critics lament a lack of accountability, with no public information on who receives the money in Libya, while rescuers slam a “Wild West” situation with armed militias posing as the Coast Guard.
The appeal by 40 organizations including Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, and Amnesty, calls for urgent action by Italy’s new far-right government, which was sworn in last month.
Libya has been a hub for migration for decades, the country’s economy relies on foreign workers who fill a need in the local labour market. Since the onset of the civil war in 2011, however, Libya has increasingly become a transit country for migrants on their way to Europe. Political instability has created an environment of abuse and exploitation for migrants in Libya, forcing them to leave.