The renewed Italian-Libyan co-operation on irregular migration: some remarks on a possible Italian responsibility and on the guarantees to adopt in order to prevent such risk

The article intends to offer a first reading of the legal and practical issues raised by the recent Memorandum of Understanding concluded between the Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj, Head of the UNbacked Libyan Government of National Accord on 2 February 2017 for the containment of irregular migratory flows coming from the coasts of Libya. The Memorandum at stake, in fact, raises numerous critical issues of a legal nature both at national level (both from the perspective of Libyan law and Italian law) and at international level. Furthermore, by analysing some concrete cases recorded in 2017, the paper intends to highlight the modalities of execution and implementation by the Libyan Coast Guard of the Memorandum, too often characterized by violent and unjustified behaviours in violation of the provisions of human rights law as embodied, for example, in the European Convention on Human Rights, and confirmed also by the reports of numerous International Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations. In this context, it is possible to wonder whether and to what extent Italy may be held responsible for the actions taken by the Libyan authorities and what measures can be taken to prevent this risk. Finally, the present work will consider a new proceeding against Italy filed in the Strasbourg Court on 3 May 2018. According to the group of lawyers and experts who followed the survivors/applicants in the proceeding before the ECtHR, the Italian government is legally responsible for the “refusal by proxy” made by the Libyan Coast Guard, which would violate numerous provisions of the ECHR.