EU defends cooperation with Libya to stop migrants

The European Union defended yesterday its intention to cooperate with former pariah state Libya to stem the flow of illegal migrants entering Europe, saying all joint action would respect human rights.

The EU has come under criticism from human rights groups, the United Nations' refugee agency and EU lawmakers over proposals to offer Tripoli financial help to stop migrants from Sub-Sahara reaching Europe.

The decision to work together with Libya is also likely to complicate the EU's relations with Bulgaria, seeking to join the bloc, over the fate of five Bulgarian nurses who have been sentenced to death by a Libyan court.

But EU president Luxembourg said that cooperating with Libya could boost human rights in the African state led by Muammar Gaddafi and convince Tripoli to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to work inside Libya.

"We have to accept there is a major problem and that is the problem of illegal migratory flows and the treatment that is meted out to people already in Libya," Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolas Schmit said after a meeting of EU justice and interior ministers.

"Given the size of the problem of illegal immigration, the number of people coming from Libya, but also the number of people already in Libya who are often subject to tough conditions, it is very important that we are able to deal with these issues," he told a news conference.

Many EU governments are under pressure from voters to clamp down on illegal migrants and bogus asylum seekers and the issue has taken centre stage in general elections across Europe in the past years.

The European Commission, which went on a fact-finding mission to Libya last year, has proposed that the EU help Libya build the facilities to deal with migrants and asylum seekers that come from Sub-Sahara.

EU member Italy, which has long called for cooperation with Tripoli on immigration issues, has adopted a much-criticised policy of almost instant deportation to Libya.

The European Parliament slammed Rome's policy yesterday, saying it breached Italy's obligations under international law.

Mr Schmit said that EU ministers had agreed cooperation with Libya would be in line with the bloc's commitment to the Geneva Convention on refugees' rights and its stance on human rights.

He also said that working together with Tripoli did not mean the EU was ignoring the problem of the Bulgarian nurses, who were convicted of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV.

"The question of the Bulgarian nurses is of capital importance to the (EU). We are in touch with the Libyan authorities to get these people freed. They have been unjustly convicted," Mr Schmit said.