Philosophy Lecturer Blasts Neville Gafa After Migrant Testimony: ‘He Might Have Condemned Thousands Of Lives To Misery And Torture’
Philosophy lecturer Jean-Paul De Lucca has warned former OPM employee Neville Gafa could be in breach of international law in light of his statement that he had coordinated with the Libyan authorities to prevent thousands of migrants from reaching Malta’s shores.
“The treatment of migrants in Libya is well documented,” De Lucca wrote, a reference to abusive conditions, including rape and torture, suffered by sub-Saharan migrants in Libyan detention centres.
“What Gafa admitted during the inquiry means that his ‘coordination”’ on behalf of Malta’s Government and while holding a diplomatic passport, potentially condemned thousands of lives to misery, manhandling, violence, torture and worse. He also breached international law. And he has the audacity to claim that he saved lives.”
Testifying recently at the public inquiry investigating the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Gafa said he had coordinated operations in Libya between July 2018 and January 2020 on behalf of the Maltese government to prevent thousands of migrants from reaching Malta’s shores.
“With regards the national interest, had those regular visits to Libya not taken place, the coordination between the competent authorities wouldn’t have remained strong and therefore wouldn’t have left the results it did, a failure that would have led to a national crisis,” he said on Facebook afterwards. “I say this with responsibility.”
The United Nations has repeatedly warned that Libya cannot be considered a safe country for migrants and UN Secretary General António Guterres recently urged EU member states to “revisit policies that support the return of refugees and migrants”.
Last December, the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR estimated that around 4,000 people were locked up in official Libyan detention centres, to which humanitarian groups and UN agencies have only limited access.
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