Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1443936
6 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 JANUARY 2022 NEWS Hague tribunal asked to investigate Maltese, Italian pushbacks MATTHEW VELLA JURISTS from Dutch NGO Up- rights, France's Adala For Al, and Italy's StraLi have filed a commu- nication with the court in The Hague, Netherlands, alleging that Italy assisted the Libyan coast guard in intercepting migrants at sea. Together with Maltese officials, they are accused of having "acted in a coordinated manner with the Libyan coast guard in the recovery of migrants to ensure that they were intercepted and returned to Libya." The NGOs are calling for an in- vestigation and potential prosecu- tion of all relevant actors – which could include Maltese nationals like former OPM envoy Neville Gafà – who facilitated the return of migrants to Libya leading to their detention and subsequent mistreatment. "The Communication requests the ICC to undertake an investi- gation and take an important first step to ensure that crimes related to migration, traditionally un- der the purview of human rights and refugee law, are scrutinized through the lens of international criminal law," Nicolò Bussolati, vice-President of StraLi. Gafà had confirmed to a mag- isterial inquiry into the deaths of migrants at sea, that he was asked by the Maltese government to co- ordinate a pushback of the boat migrants to Libya. He confirmed that on Easter Sunday of 2020, he was involved in a mission so that a boat of 51 ir- regular immigrants, be taken to a port in Tripoli. The boat also had five dead bodies. Neville Gafà has previously claimed that through his contacts in Libya, thousands of migrants would be saved at sea by the Libyan coastguard. The former official within the Office of the Prime Minister, told the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry on Wednesday that "Malta was spared thousands of immigrants". Gafà was issued with a diplomat- ic passport because of his frequent travels to Libya as Joseph Muscat's special envoy on migration-relat- ed matters with Libya. The Communication requests the ICC to investigate internation- al crimes committed by Libyan armed groups against thousands of migrants, including women and children, trapped in detention centres in Libya following their in- terception at sea. The NGOs said that once re- turned to Libya, the victims were routinely and systematically sub- jected to various forms of mis- treatments and abuse including murder, torture, rape, forced la- bour and forced conscription. "The ICC Prosecutor should scrutinize, in addition to Liby- an actors, the potential criminal conduct of Italian and Maltese authorities and officials for the support they provided to Libyan actors," the NGOs said. They also said the crimes com- mitted against migrants and asy- lum seekers qualify and should be investigated as war crimes under Article 8 of the ICC Statute, and crimes against humanity under Article 7. "The need to investigate and en- sure accountability is heightened by the fact that a number of Eu- ropean authorities, including Ital- ian and Maltese nationals, have facilitated the return of migrants to Libya leading to their detention and subsequent mistreatment," said Ramadan Amani from Adala for All. "Crimes committed against migrants in Libya represent an emerging 'pocket of immunity' at the border of Europe which has become increasingly and open- ly accepted by the international community despite the massive amount of evidence of pervasive international crimes on Europe's doorstep. Available evidence clearly points to responsibilities within Europe." Between 2017 and 2021, Italian authorities and officials provid- ed support to the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept migrants at sea and return them to detention centres. Italian and Maltese officials closely coordinated with the Lib- yan Coast Guard on rescue oper- ations to ensure that migrants at sea would be intercepted and re- turned to Libya. The NGOs said the support of Italian and Maltese authorities to the Libyan Coast Guard qualifies as a form of contribution to the crimes committed against mi- grants. According to the NGO Alarm Phone, the Maltese authorities deliberately ignored a distress call and then coordinated the pick-up of a boatload of 63 people who were returned to Libya. Since the boat potentially carried asylum seekers, the act of returning the migrants to the place they were fleeing from would be illegal in the eyes of international law. Addi- tionally, a boat belonging to Car- melo Galea, the Mae Yemanya, is believed to have been used to co- ordinate the pushback. Former OPM envoy Neville Gafà KARL AZZOPARDI GOVERNMENT MPs want par- liament's ethics committee to suspend its hearing of Justyne Caruana's case until court pro- cedures started by the former minister are concluded. However, a motion to this ef- fect presented by Edward Zam- mit Lewis and Glenn Bedingfield on Tuesday was not voted upon since Opposition MPs Karol Aq- uilina and Therese Comodini Cachia asked for a Speaker's rul- ing on the matter. Government members have argued that permanent commit- tees of parliament can regulate themselves, while Opposition members have insisted there is no specific disposition of the law that says hearings have to be suspended pending court proce- dures. Last week, lawyers for former minister filed an application in her constitutional proceedings against the State Advocate and a judicial protest against the Speaker of the House, asking that the Speaker be admitted as a party to the lawsuit. Caruana, who resigned in De- cember after being found to have breached ethics by gifting her partner a €15,000 contract, had previously filed a constitutional case three days before Christmas claiming the Standards Com- missioner did not give her a fair hearing before finding her guilty of the breach. The case was filed shortly after her resignation. The former minister's legal team have now filed a judicial protest before the civil courts calling upon the committee represented by the Speaker to ensure that Caruana's rights to a fair hearing and due process are respected and that any up- coming debates on the Stand- ards Commissioner's report do not prejudice her constitutional challenge in court. During the committee meet- ing on Tuesday, the Opposition members insisted on allowing the Standards Commissioner's testimony to go ahead. Speaker Anglu Farrugia ar- gued that he would be more comfortable knowing what the court application is saying be- fore continuing to discuss the case, but insisted on allowing the Standards Commissioner to explain how he would feel about testifying. Hyzler said that he would find no issue with discussing the investigation, but insisted he would feel uncomfortable dis- cussing the investigation's pro- cess, given it is being challenged in court. "While Justyne Caruana opened the constitutional case against the law, she alleged short comings from my end. I do not know where the short comings are, and I do not know if these details will be used against me in the case," Hyzler said. Karol Aquilina replied by say- ing he would not be asking on the procedure, but government Whip Glenn Bedingfield said he had "a lot of questions on it." Justice Minister Edward Zam- mit Lewis argued that a clear distinction cannot be made be- tween the report and the pro- cess. "You cannot separate one from the other, and that is why we should suspend and not pre- judge the case." Comodini Cachia rebutted by saying that in that case, the com- mittee would be treating MPs and private citizens differently. "To suspend here, without in- vestigating the case as a commit- tee, this for me means that we are abdicating from our respon- sibilities," she said. Aquilina claimed government MPs insistence on not holding the meeting was a manoeuvre to delay proceedings and not have the former education minister testify before the election. "We published the report, we had resignations from the minis- ter and her permanent secretary. This is an unprecedented case," Zammit Lewis said. The ruling was requested at the end of the committee meeting. The Speaker is set to deliver it in the coming days. MPs squabble over whether Justyne Caruana's ethics hearing should be suspended pending court case