France urged to suspend boat deliveries in Libya amid fear of interception of migrants

Eight international NGOs, including Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, on Thursday urged France to suspend the delivery of boats to the Libyan coastguard, fearing that they would be used to intercept migrants.

The French Minister of the French Armed Forces, Françoise Parly, had agreed in February to donate six boats to the Libyan navy, in which the coastguard was operating, with the aim of helping them "fight the fight against human beings." ;illegal immigration".

But the offer angered rights groups who said they would be used to block the boats of migrants seeking to reach Europe, forcing their pbadengers back into a war-torn Libya.

The request was made in the context of a legal challenge filed Thursday morning before the Administrative Court of Paris.

In this document, the groups require "suspension of the decision" until the court decides whether the donation is legal or not.

The court has 48 hours to make a decision.

NGOs believe that forcing people to return to Libya would expose them to "serious human rights violations".

"Callous and irresponsible"

Mbadimo Moratti, regional director of research at Amnesty International, said the commitment to deliver boats to the Libyan coastguard was "an illegal and reckless decision".

He said it was all the more dangerous at a time when fighting intensified after military man Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive on the capital Tripoli earlier this month. .

"Doing it now, as the armed conflict in Libya intensifies, is even more insensitive and irresponsible," Moratti said in a statement, warning that the donation would make France "an accomplice" in trapping people in Libya. inside the country.

The NGOs accused the coastguard of having done poorly in respect of people in distress at sea, saying that the logistical means should not be intensified.

The statement accused coastguards of abuse, including fending off people in distress in the water, threatening them with weapons and shooting them.

The six ships, to be delivered in the coming weeks, are 12-meter semi-rigid boats manufactured by the French specialist Sillinger.

In addition to Amnesty and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the legal petition has been joined by the French League for Human Rights, the Immigrant Support Group GISTI, Lawyers Without Borders, Migrant Assistance Groups The Cimade and Migreurop and the Italian group research and help ASGI.