Since June 30, 250 Eritrean citizens have been held in a detention centre in southern Libya to face forced repatriation to their country of origin. These people are asylum seekers and among them are some who have been deported from Italy to Libya without any possibility for them to seek international protection.

Three members of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left (Rui Tavares, Marie-Christine Vergiat and Miguel Portas) today called for an emergency meeting of the EU Commissioner and representatives of the competent Libyan authorities before the European Parliament's Committees dealing with Civil Liberties, Human Rights and the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries.

The MEPs said today "this is a matter of life and death; these refugees have already been mistreated and may face further abuses. A lack of action on the part of our Parliament would be unforgivable."