The mass exodus of women and children from Ukraine has sparked the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. More than three million refugees have poured out of Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country on February 24. Upwards of 1.8 million of those refugees have crossed into Poland. And [...]
Search Results for: Mediterranean
Beat the Drum for War: Vladimir Putin Through a Middle Eastern and Arab Looking Glass
The Russian-Ukrainian crisis started to deteriorate in early 2021 when Ukraine arrested pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk on allegations of conspiring a coup d’etat, and Russia initiated military exercises near the Ukrainian border. Russia is the second-largest oil producer, trailing only the United States, and the third-leading oil exporter, behind Saudi Arabia and the United Arab [...]
Amnesty International: EU must halt cooperation with Libya on Mediterranean migration
Amnesty International Monday released a statement condemning the European Union’s cooperation with Libyan authorities to intercept refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. According to Amnesty, “migrants and refugees both in and outside of detention in Libya are systematically subjected to a litany of abuses by militias, armed groups and security forces with [...]
US Treasury sanctions Lebanon businessmen and politician alleging corruption
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday sanctioned three Lebanese individuals for involvement in corruption in Lebanon. The designated individuals are two businessmen, Jihad al-Arab and Dany Khoury, and a member of parliament, Jamil Sayyed. The individuals named by OFAC were added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, which bars US [...]
UN demands inquiry into Libya violence against detained migrants
The UN Human Rights Office, represented by spokesperson Marta Hurtado, deemed on Tuesday that Libyan security forces had used “unnecessary and disproportionate” force to detain African migrants when those that had attempted to escape were fatally shot. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) requested an inquiry into the violence perpetrated by [...]
Norway refugee aid agency says Libya arbitrarily detained 500 migrants in Tripoli raid operation
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an independent humanitarian organization operating in Libya, raised concern on Friday over the mass arrests and detention of more than 500 migrants in Tripoli by Libyan authorities. Libya’s Interior Ministry stated that security forces have carried out a major operation against criminals, liquor and drug dealers, and undocumented people in [...]
Amnesty report condemns Libya and EU for human rights abuse in detention camps
Amnesty International released a report Thursday stating that migrants and refugees detained in Libyan detention centers face harrowing sexual violence from guards, including being forced to trade sex for clean food and water. The report is based on interviews with 53 refugees and migrants who were intercepted in the central Mediterranean and disembarked in western [...]
Memorial Day 2021 Redux: The Fighting Three Wars Photo That Haunts All of the US
The Photo That Haunts All of the United States In a recent JURIST post commemorating Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, one of us wrote about a photo that haunts us. Thanks to the kindness of Alessio Parisi, we are now able to share that photo with you. It is above in black and white and [...]
UN report blames EU and Libya for migrant deaths in central Mediterranean
Policy decisions of EU member states and Libya caused deaths along the central Mediterranean route, according to a report from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Wednesday. The report covers the period from January 2019 to December 2020. It is primarily based on interviews with migrants, government officials and relevant experts. [...]
Italy right-wing leader Salvini not to stand trial for migrant kidnapping
A judge in Italy’s Catania in the Sicily region on Friday ordered that Italian Senator Matteo Salvini will not stand trial for refusing to allow migrants to disembark from a coastguard ship in July 2019. The right-wing leader had been accused of kidnapping the migrants. From June 2018 to September 2019, Salvini, the leader of far-right [...]