Amnesty Intl says Italy mission exposes migrants to abuse

(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 2 - Amnesty International on Tuesday harshly criticised a vote in the Italian parliament to send Italian warships to patrol Libyan waters.

"Today, the Italian authorities have demonstrated that they consider it more important to keep migrants and refugees away from their coasts rather than protect their lives and their safety," said Amnesty International Deputy Europe Director Gauri Van Gulik.

"Facilitating the interception of migrants and refugees and their return to Libya will mean sending them to the country's detention centres, where they will almost certainly be exposed to the risk of undergoing torture, rapes, and even being killed," she said.

Today's vote could make the Italian authorities accomplices in these horrors".

"Italy, together with other members of the European Union, should dedicate itself to increasing search and rescue operations. Instead, it has chosen to abdicate its responsibilities and to put in danger the same people that it says it wants to save, even providing military cover and support to the Libyan Coast Guard, whose violent and reckless actions have been documented several times, including by Amnesty International," she said. (ANSAmed).

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