The Shipwreck of Civilisation: Our Failure to Value Life

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people” – Martin Luther King 

Abdalla, Amara and Kader, the young African men known as the El Hiblu 3, appeared before the court on Tuesday once more to defend themselves against the charges of terrorism and hijacking brought against them by the Maltese state.  

Their crime: protesting forced return to Libya after they were rescued from a vessel in distress. At the time of the incident, in March 2019, they were 19, 16 and 15. 

It was clear then, as is now, that in Libya migrants and refugees face arbitrary detention in inhuman conditions, torture, rape and sexual violence, extortion, slavery and unlawful killing. Both the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), international agencies operating in Libya not given to hyperbole or exaggeration, have stated that “migrants and refugees disembarked in Libya often end up in appalling conditions where they may be exposed to abuse and extortion”.  

Amara, one of the three accused, who was 16 at the time when he left Libya, recounts how, in Libya, “armed men regularly exploited me for unpaid labour. I would work for the whole day, and instead of getting paid after a long day of work, they would point guns at us and chase us away. My life became characterised by fear and hopelessness in Libya, as lawlessness, kidnapping and rape became normal. Armed Libyan civilians would commit gruesome crimes like rape, shooting and even stabbing black African immigrants, like me, without being questioned by anyone.” 

Yet, in spite of this, we think nothing of pushing back refugees and migrants fleeing for their lives straight back into the lion’s den. 

These days we commemorate the anniversary of one particularly horrific incident dubbed as the ‘Easter pushback’, which happened two years ago, between the 12th and 14th of April 2020. On that occasion a group of 51, mostly Eritrean, asylum seekers, ‘rescued’ from a vessel in distress, were returned to Libya by a fishing boat commissioned by the Maltese government to carry out the operation. Between the time when they left Libya, on the night between the 9th and 10th April 2020, and the time when they were returned to Libya four days later, 12 people died.  

At least three of them drowned when, overcome with despair as they waited for a rescue that never came, they jumped to the sea and attempted to swim to a cargo ship that was some way away. Another five died during the journey from hunger and dehydration. The 51 survivors were detained in the Tariq Al Sikka detention centre in Tripoli, which is notorious because of the numerous credible reports of serious human rights abuses that happened there. 

But this pushback is far from the only one. According to Amnesty International, in the five years since there has been formal cooperation with Libya on migration, over 82,000 men, women and children have been returned there. 

Increasingly these pushbacks are carried out not by EU states directly, but by private commercial vessels acting at the behest of member states or through cooperation with the Libyan authorities. Although these pushbacks are notoriously difficult to monitor, because they are carried out far from the public eye, reports from Sea Watch, which carries our air surveillance, highlight the brutal and dangerous tactics employed by the Libyan coastguard when carrying out reception and return.  

Beyond the pushbacks, there have been numerous reports of shipwrecks – of lives lost at sea. A report published by the UN Human Commissioner in January 2022 reported that more than 1,300 men, women and children died or disappeared at sea in 2021 alone. Malta has also been accused delays in rescue, and of attempting to divert boats to Italy rather than rescuing immediately – actions which can lead to loss of life.   

It’s easy for us to be fooled into believing that these acts or omissions, carried out by our governments in our name, miles away, out of sight and out of mind, are nothing to do with us. To believe the lie that the people who die in the Mediterranean, or who are intercepted at sea and returned to Libya, are wholly to blame for their predicament because they are breaking the law. To forget that, like Abdalla, Amara and Kader, they had no choice other than to travel irregularly to reach a place of safety, as they are fleeing a fate which has been described by some who have experienced it as ‘worse than death’. 

I cannot help wondering whether we would be as gullible and complacent if it was our sons and daughters who were being treated in this way. If we would carry on with our lives, while they are charged with terrorism for protesting return to country where their safety would be at risk. Surely, we would be up in arms, protesting loudly against this injustice, doing our best to rally support for their cause, and standing by them in the dock, to let them know that they are not alone.  

Yet we stand by silently or, worse, look the other way.  

During his meeting with migrants at the Peace Lab, just over a week ago, Pope Francis drew attention to the fate of so many of our brothers and sisters who died in the Mediterranean Sea, describing their death as the result of the shipwreck of civilization, which threatens not only migrants but us all. He made clear that we have a responsibility to act in order to save ourselves from this shipwreck which risks sinking the ship of our civilization, and we must do this by conducting ourselves with kindness and humanity, as individuals, as a community, and as a country.

This Holy Week, let us acknowledge that all too often we have failed to take responsibility, and preferred to look the other way, while people were left to die out at sea or returned to Libya. Let us resolve to see people not merely as statistics, but, … for what they really are: people, men and women, brothers and sisters, each with his or her own life story, and to fight to defend their life, dignity and safety.

Katrine Camilleri, Director JRS Malta

Photo: Front cover of a new publication by Free The El Hiblu 3 Campaign.