Britain pledged about 10 mln pounds ($12 mln) to fund humanitarian programmes in Libya, including training coastguards to intercept migrants attempting sea crossings
By Lin Taylor
LONDON, March 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - British aid money could harm migrants languishing in overcrowded detention centres in Libya by funding a lawless system that violates human rights, a government watchdog said on Friday.
The Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Italy has become the main crossing point for asylum seekers and economic migrants seeking a better life in Europe, after a clampdown on sea crossings from Turkey.
European leaders in February offered Libya money and other assistance to try to reduce the numbers departing across the Mediterranean. Aid groups criticised the move, saying such plans exposed migrants to further risks and abuses within Libya.
Britain pledged about 10 million pounds ($12 million) to fund humanitarian programmes in Libya, including training coastguards to intercept migrants attempting sea crossings, working with aid agencies to improve detention centres, and providing "human rights focused training" for guards.
But the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), which scrutinises taxpayer-funded aid, criticised the programmes and said the money could reach corrupt officials involved in smuggling, and prop up a detention system that harms migrants.
"While reducing the number of deaths at sea is vital, we are concerned that the programme delivers migrants back to a system that leads to indiscriminate and indefinite detention and denies refugees their right to asylum," said ICAI in the report.
It said it was "not convinced" the government had properly analysed the economic and political situation in Libya before committing millions of pounds on aid programmes.
"There are credible reports that some Libyan state and local officials are involved in people smuggling and trafficking, and in extortion of migrants in detention," the report said.
But Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) said money would only go to "trusted partners" working in the country, not Libyan authorities.
"It is simply not true to say the UK Government did not consider potential harm to vulnerable migrants in deciding to implement these programmes," it said in a statement to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"In Libya, as in other fragile states with poor human rights records, we carry out careful assessments of the likely impact of programming before agreeing to provide aid," DFID said.
Armed groups have taken control of official detention centres amid the political chaos that now reigns in Libya, as well as running their own centres, competing and cooperating with criminal gangs and smugglers, the United Nations says.
There were a quarter of a million migrants in the country as of last September, most of whom languish in unsanitary, disease-ridden detention centres, where they are often beaten, raped and starved, U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) has said.
($1 = 0.8217 pounds)
(Reporting by Lin Taylor @linnytayls, Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, global land and property rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, women's rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories)
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