Migrant death rate spikes despite EU 'safety' priority

More than 721 deaths at sea were registered over June and July 2018 alone, despite a sharp drop in crossings. Amnesty International says the death rate over the two-month period is one in 16.

The comment follow demands by the NGO for an investigation into reports that the Libyan Coast Guard last month left behind a woman who was still alive on a sinking vessel.

She was found, along with a dead woman and a small child, by the NGO Proactiva charity boat.

The commission says it is looking into matter but maintains that training the Libyan Coast Guard and providing them with equipment is part of a bigger strategy to keep people safe.

Such comments clash with earlier commission statements suggesting Libya is unfit for migrant disembarkation. Open slave markets, torture, and rape are among the risks many face once trapped in Libya.

Last week, a commission spokeswoman said a person's life must not be threatened and that housing, food, and medical needs must be met before disembarkation can take place.

"The commission has consistently maintained that it does not believe these conditions are being currently met in Libya," noted the spokeswoman.

Yet once returned to Libya, many people are shuffled into notorious detention centres.

Amnesty International says the number of detainees has more than doubled in recent months, from around 4,400 in March to more than 10,000 (including around 2,000 women and children) by the end of July.

"Virtually all those in these centres have been intercepted at sea and returned by the Libyan Coast Guard, who are equipped, trained and supported by European governments," said the NGO in a report out Wednesday.

Italy is now donating another 12 patrol vessels to the Libyan coastguard to help push back migrants setting sail for Europe. Rome is hoping Libya will be able to coordinate rescues on its own.

The commission is working the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to get people out of the country.

It says some 29,000 have left Libya on their own accord to go back home, with the help of IOM, since the start of 2017. It also says almost 2,000 have been evacuated, with an aim for resettlement later on, with the help of UNHCR.

Around 54,000 people in Libya are registered with the UNHCR.

The two organisations have since come up with vague plans, taken onboard by the EU, to improve search and rescues at sea following clashes between Italy and Malta on NGO rescue boats.

Italy has shut off ports to charity vessels and has threaten to do the same for EU naval operations like Sophia.

In June, the rescue vessel Lifeline, of the German NGO Mission Lifeline, remained stranded at sea for five days with no country authorising it to dock. Malta has also cracked down on NGO boats, ratcheting up hostility against charity rescues.

The EU focus on preventing people from disembarking under a policy of breaking the business model of smugglers, and protecting migrants, appears increasingly desperate as internal wrangles over European asylum reforms remain deadlocked.