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Libya is not a safe harbour, and it is “unlawful” to force migrants rescued from the sea to return to a territory where their fundamental rights are at risk, Italy’s highest court held in a ruling in February.
On July 30, 2018, the ship Asso 28, picked up 101 migrants.
It includes five pregnant women and five minors, from a dinghy and returned them to the Libyan coastguard at the Tripoli port.
A lower Italian court prosecuted the ship’s captain in 2021, finding him guilty of violating international humanitarian and refugee laws.
The principle of non-refoulement forbids the forced return of people to countries where their lives or rights are at risk.
Per international law, Libya is currently not a port of safety.
The Supreme Court of Cassation in the present verdict reiterated this stance.
The court said that once picked up, the migrants were under the captain’s charge, and in ‘abandoning’ them, the captain violated directives of the International Maritime Organization and the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.
Mediterranean Sea , Libya and Italy - location
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