Press Releases

Immigration. Gaddafi prepares deportation of Eritrean refugees

The Italy-Libya agreement constantly violates the Geneva Convention. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees intervenes.

Milan, September 4, 2010. “We have been informed by the humanitarian agency Habeshia that, on September 3^rd, sixteen boys and five girls of Eritrean nationality, all refugees, were taken by the Libyan authorities from their homes in the city of Benkazi.” This has been confirmed by Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau, co-chairs of the Organization for Human Rights EveryOne. “The boys”, continue the activists, “were approached in the late evening by an Eritrea representative in Tripoli, who informed them that they soon would be deported to their country of origin, due to the lack of a valid passport.” The news has obviously alarmed all refugees currently in detention centers in Libya, who fear imminent compulsory deportation, without the possibility of receiving adequate humanitarian assistance. “This”, says the chairman of EveryOne Group, “happens as a result of the Italy-Libya agreement, according to which the leader Gaddafi agrees to keep in his country refugee asylum seekers, preventing them from benefiting from the Geneva Convention and from their fundamental rights.”

Convergence of Cultures joins EveryOne Group in urging the Italian government to take immediate actions to prevent an imminent deportation, which could seriously endanger the lives of refugees. We also call to action the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Council of Europe and international organizations for Human Rights to halt, as soon as possible, the rejections of Italy and Malta, which agree with xenophobic policies and with an unfair agreement with Libya, violating the Geneva Convention in its entirety.

Convergence of Cultures invites individuals and charity institutions, as well as the press, to publicly support these reports and proposals, by any means at their disposal.

Gaspare Tararà
Convergence of Cultures World Team