The Jesuit Refugee Service said yesterday Libya had no system in place to identify and protect migrants who had “nowhere to turn to”.

The NGO was speaking in the wake of EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström’s visit to Libya, during which it was agreed that the EU would give €50 million in aid to Tripoli to help it stem the flow of refugees and illegal migrants from Africa to Europe.

JRS said migrants and asylum seekers needed urgent protection, recalling that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was only recently expelled from the North African nation.

“Libya has no national system in place to identify and provide protection to those who need it. Just as worrying are the consistent reports of harsh treatment and severe abuse of migrants caught staying in the country illegally or trying to leave without the necessary permission. Their needs must be given priority by the European Commission,” said Michael Schoepf, who heads JRS Europe.

He added that even if Malta faced difficulty in dealing with those who needed protection, closing European borders was the wrong answer. He said border control must never be at the expense of human rights, and called for changes to the EU legal framework, the Dublin II regulation, to ensure more solidarity among member states so they could collectively take on more asylum seekers.

The comments were made after a meeting for directors of JRS offices from all over Europe held at the Mount St Joseph retreat house, limits of Mosta. They confirmed their deep conviction that unless Libya and other countries of transit were willing to provide effective protection, asylum seekers must urgently be given access to procedures and protection in Europe.