The Libyan-Italian Partnership: Attempts of Innovation in Solving the Migration Crisis

Abstract

Italy and Libya hold a close relationship, and the migrations flows across the Mediterranean only deepens it. In August 2008 both countries signed a Treaty on Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation. Among other things, it called for deeper cooperation to fight illegal immigration. However, the scenario of potential cooperation changed quite significantly in 2011, in the context of the Arab Spring.In 2011 Libya faced growing waves of denouncements that questioned the longevity of Muammar Gaddafi's regime and its deep sectarianism. This led to an end his 42-year-old government and put the country in a civil war situation. The authoritarian resilience was broken in Libya, so was the rigid control of its borders. Both countries are still looking for a way to deal with Libya's border porosity and Italy's difficulty to deal properly with those who come looking for aid. Bearing in mind the importance of these events, we should ask: how did the Libyan Spring impacted The Treaty on Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation between Italy and Libya of 2008? In February 2017, Italy and Libya signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation that deals, along with other topics, with illegal immigration. The recently signed MoU signals for some negative impacts from the Libyan Arab Spring and civil war on its relations with Italy as well as for the migration flows across the Mediterranean. The methodology used to guide our analysis consists of a bibliographic and documentary study, using supporting data and statistics available on official sources.



Author Information
Yesa Ormond, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Yasmin Renni, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Brazil

Paper Information
Conference: ECSS2017
Stream: Immigration, Refugees, Race, and Nation

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Posted by James Alexander Gordon