EU slammed for putting lives at risk with 'reckless' refugee policy

The European Union has been "reckless" in the way it has trained Libyan coast guards to rescue refugees, Amnesty International has said.

The EU has turned to Libya, a failing state with two governments at war with each other, to stop refugees from arriving into Europe, states the rights group's latest report "A Perfect Storm".

European nations have been traning and equiping the Libyan coastguard and its navy to lead the fight against people smuggling and human trafficking networks, but after refugees are "rescued" by the coast guard, they are then returned to Libya where they are often held in inhumane conditions.

Analysis: Blaming the rescuers: EU policy lets refugees drown

This means refugees face the risk of dying at sea or subject to grave human rights abuses in Libya where they could remain potentially trapped, Amnesty said.

The organisation added that it was "deeply problematic" to unconditionally fund and train Libya, where human rights are lacking and the coast guard has been known for violence and even smuggling.

Libyan coast guard units once opened fire on a Doctors Without Borders rescue boat, the report said.

"The current situation with the Libyan coast guard is absolutely outrageous," said Iverna McGowan, who leads Amnesty International's European Institutions Office, said in an interview in Brussels.

"It is unconscionable that the EU... would allow certain rescue operations that we know are inadequate and trust that with people’s lives."

The worst may go unseen. "People who are disembarked in Libya are going back to unlawful detention centers where they are facing torture, rape and other unthinkable abuses," she added.

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitri Avramopoulos defended the European bloc's actions and said at a recent news conference in Paris that the EU is drawing on a country in "very precarious conditions".