European court condemns Italy for 'degrading' treatment of migrants in Lampedusa

The European Court of Human Rights condemned Italy on Thursday for the “degrading treatment” of four migrants on the island of Lampedusa, for detention without a clear legal basis, and for “collective expulsion” without individual assessment. Four Tunisians had turned to the court when they attempted to cross the Mediterranean in 2017 and were rescued by an Italian ship before being transferred to Lampedusa. They claimed to have suffered “inhumane and degrading” treatment on the island before being “forced” to return by plane to Tunisia.

The European Court of Human Rights affirmed that the Italian government did not dispute the accusations relating to the living conditions and treatment of migrants in Lampedusa, which were “confirmed by independent national and international sources.” The court also noted that Rome failed to prove that deportation procedures had actually begun before the migrants’ return, and thus their detention was “without a clear legal basis,” preventing them from challenging their detention in court.

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The European judges also referred to the prohibition of collective expulsion of foreigners, highlighting that in this case, the individual circumstances of those involved were not considered “separately.” In the cases of two of the four migrants, expulsion decisions were “based on presumptions and did not contain any individual information,” according to the court.

Italy was ordered to pay €8,500 to each of the complainants claiming “moral compensation.” The European Court of Human Rights is the judicial arm of the Council of Europe, a Strasbourg-based body comprising 46 countries that have signed the European Convention on Human Rights. The court has jurisdiction to rule on violations of this convention committed within the territories of signatory states.

In a separate development, the Committee against Torture, another body affiliated with the Council of Europe, called on countries in a report on Thursday to put an end to pushbacks at land or sea borders, especially at the external borders of the European Union, pointing to “illegal and unacceptable” pushback operations. The President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Alain Michel, said that “a large number of European countries face very complex migration issues at their borders, but this does not mean that they can ignore their human rights obligations.”

He added that “these illegal and unacceptable expulsion operations must stop.” The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture stated that it had visited police, border, coast guard, detention centers, and transit areas “along the main migration routes to Europe” (Western Balkans, Western, Central, and Eastern Mediterranean routes). The report noted that “foreign nationals are beaten when they are arrested or deported—punched, slapped, hit with batons or other solid or illegal objects, by the police or border guards.”

The report condemned “other forms of inhumane or degrading treatment, such as firing shots close to people lying on the ground, pushing them into rivers (sometimes with their hands tied), stripping them of their clothes, and in some cases, sending them completely naked across the border.”

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The European Court of Human Rights yesterday condemned Italy for the “degrading treatment” of four migrants on the island of Lampedusa, for detention without a clear legal basis, and for “collective expulsion” without individual assessment.

Four Tunisians had turned to the court when they attempted to cross the Mediterranean in 2017 and were rescued by an Italian ship before being transferred to Lampedusa. They claimed to have suffered “inhumane and degrading” treatment on the island before being “forced” to return by plane to Tunisia.

The European Court of Human Rights affirmed that the Italian government did not dispute the accusations relating to the living conditions and treatment of migrants in Lampedusa. The court also noted that Rome failed to prove that deportation procedures had actually begun before the migrants’ return, and thus their detention was “without a clear legal basis,” preventing them from challenging their detention in court.

Italy was ordered to pay €8,500 ($9260) to each defendant.

The report condemned “other forms of inhumane or degrading treatment, such as firing shots close to people lying on the ground, pushing them into rivers (sometimes with their hands tied), stripping them of their clothes, and in some cases, sending them completely naked across the border.”

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