Torturous journeys: Cruelty, international law, and pushbacks and pullbacks over the Mediterranean Sea

Jamal Barnes

doi:10.1017/s0260210522000110

Abstract

AbstractBoat pushbacks and pullbacks by Italy and the European Union (EU) have returned migrants and refugees to Libya where they have been subjected to brutal human rights violations, such as torture and ill-treatment. This article argues that these pushbacks and pullbacks not only undermine key human rights principles, but they are also an act of cruelty. As Italy and the EU have used the law to evade their international human rights and refugee obligations, the law has had distributive effects that have shaped migration pathways and exacerbated the vulnerability of migrants and refugees to torture. Not only have legal manoeuvres stripped migrants and refugees of their rights, enabling Italy and the EU to return people to inhumane detention centres in Libya, but they have also had the sinister side effect of excluding migrants and refugees from moral concern. As Italy and the EU have sought to evade legal responsibility, it has created indifference to the suffering of people on the move in Libya. This article sheds important light on the factors that lead to the torture of migrants and refugees on their migration journeys and offers new insights into the relationship between cruelty, migration policies, and indifference to human suffering.

Highlights

As part of efforts to stop irregular boat arrivals to European shores, European countries have developed a number of cooperative agreements with North African countries, such as Libya, to intercept migrant boats in the Mediterranean Sea and return them to their country of departure
If the European Union (EU) and Italy are engaging in cruelty, how is cruelty carried out at a distance? The answer lies in how European pushback and pullback policies create and distribute vulnerability along migration journeys
Migrants and refugees face the risk of torture and ill-treatment throughout their migration journey from when they leave their country of origin to when they arrive to a new country

Summary

Introduction

As part of efforts to stop irregular boat arrivals to European shores, European countries have developed a number of cooperative agreements with North African countries, such as Libya, to intercept migrant boats in the Mediterranean Sea and return them to their country of departure. The vulnerability of people to torture on their migration journeys is not the result of the inevitable effects of moving between sovereign states Rather, it is the product of the distributive effects of deliberately chosen policies. It is the product of the distributive effects of deliberately chosen policies Actors, such as Italy and the European Union (EU), have narrowly interpreted their international legal obligations to implement policies that both enable pushbacks and pullbacks, while at the same time, allow them to evade their human rights obligations to migrants and refugees. Does this article contribute to understanding how migrants and refugees become vulnerable to torture on their migration journeys, something that is currently under-studied, but it can advance a novel understanding of the relationship between cruelty, migration control, and indifference to human suffering

Conceptualising cruelty and indifference

Constructing vulnerability through pushbacks and pullbacks

Pushbacks to Libya

Challenging cruelty and indifference

Conclusion