Focus on rights thanks to deal-Gentiloni (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, December 12 - Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Tuesday that it was thanks to the deal reached between Italy and Libya that the human rights of migrants is a big issue now.
    "Italy moved (to address the Mediterranean migrant crisis), it reached a bilateral deal with Libya, it obtained results," Gentiloni said as he reported to the Senate ahead of this week's EU summit. "As a consequence the spotlight is finally on the human rights situation in Libya.
    "It it thanks to us, not thanks to someone who now talks about these things as if they were an unpredictable reality".
    Amnesty International said in a new report on Tuesday that "European governments... in particular Italy" are "accomplices of torture and abuse on tens of thousands of migrants detained by Libyan immigration authorities in horrible conditions in Libya". "Not only were they fully aware of these abuses but, by supporting Libyan authorities in stopping crossings and keeping people in Libya, they were accomplices in these crimes," said director John Dalhuisen.