The Home Affairs Ministry yesterday welcomed Italy's decision to return a group of rescued migrants to Libya as relations between Malta and Italy showed signs of returning to normal after several days of diplomatic bickering.
Under the terms of an agreement reached with Libya, the Italian coast guard yesterday took the 227 migrants, rescued at sea on Wednesday off Lampedusa, back to Tripoli, from where they had started their journey across the Mediterranean.
The news was given by Italian Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni, who described it as a historic achievement that could "represent a twist in the fight against illegal immigration".
Humanitarian organisations were less enthusiastic about the new policy to push back immigrants at sea, with United Nations Commissioner for Refugees Laurens Jolles describing it as a "worrying trend" since migrants would not be given the chance to apply for asylum. The Home Affairs Ministry greeted the arrangement between Libya and Italy positively, saying it would mean that "fewer persons would lose their lives" trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
"The arrangement between Libya and Italy has the potential to eradicate what is an illegal trade involving human beings that too often leads to loss of life on the high seas. Inherently, the government can only support any action that prevents potential loss of life," a spokesman said. He also urged humanitarian organisations to be more proactive in dealing with persons seeking international protection by addressing their concerns in the countries of transit and origin.
In this way, the ministry said, migrants would not have to undertake life-threatening voyages.
It insisted that, rather than argue between themselves, Malta and Italy should persuade the EU that Libya also needed assistance.
The 227 migrants had made a distress call but were rescued by the Italians only after drifting for a few hours, as Italy held off despite the fact that Lampedusa was the nearest safe port of call.
This issue had been the cause of serious friction between the two countries on two previous occasions in the past few weeks, with Italy insisting that Malta should take in migrants rescued near Lampedusa because the area is within the Maltese Search and Rescue Area. Malta, on its part, holds that Italy is obliged under international rules to take the migrants to the nearest safe port - Lampedusa in these cases.
The group was yesterday taken directly to Libya without having their cases processed as had been the norm until now.
The prospect of sending back migrants who could warrant international protection was a major bone of contention for the UNHCR.
Mr Jolles said he was worried that an EU state was engaging in a push-back policy that denied people access to asylum procedures.
"We do recognise the problems countries such as Italy and Malta are facing. We also recognise the need for a more effective burden-sharing agreement between EU states. However, this new policy sends a bad signal to other countries," Mr Jolles said. He insisted that nobody knew who was on the boat and whether there were people escaping torture and persecution in their country.
"This policy is a diversion from Italy's previous stand, which had been constructive in granting international protection to those who needed it. Libya is not a signatory of the Geneva Convention and we are not aware of any guarantees the Libyan authorities have given to ensure the protection of asylum seekers," Mr Jolles said.
Italy's new policy of return is not without its pitfalls. In 2005 the European Parliament had condemned the collective expulsion of migrants from Lampedusa to Libya. Italy eventually scrapped that policy, which was applied between October 2004 and March 2005.
Meanwhile Mr Maroni said yesterday that in the next few weeks he would travel to Libya with his "esteemed colleague" Dr Mifsud Bonnici, with the aim of discussing immigration. They will be accompanied by EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Jacques Barrot.