12/06/2012 – Last year, at least 1,500 men, women and children drowned in the Mediterranean struggling to reach Europe. Some of these deaths were avoidable. Delayed rescue costs lives. In recent years, some survivors have been forced back to countries where they faced abuse and ill-treatment. On several occasions Italy pushed back people to Libya where they were detained and mistreated. In an environment where there is little transparency or oversight, human rights abuses often go unpunished along Europe’s coasts and borders.