After years of delays, an EU-funded search and rescue (SAR) center in Libya is finally expected to open. The Libyan Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC), which was first anticipated as part of a project started in 2017, will be fully operational “soon,” according to EUobserver. A European Commission (EC) spokesperson is quoted on the website as stating that “the mobile MRCC will be fully operational shortly,” characterizing the development as “another step towards the externalization of migration.”
The startling announcement comes after the European Court of Auditors released a report in September that was extremely critical of the continuous delays in the MRCC’s launch, including the training of the Libyan coast guard. The different SAR organizations that work in the Central Mediterranean and frequently condemn the violent methods Libyan coastguard officers use against individuals attempting to reach Europe in small boats are also unlikely to support it.
At a press conference in July, the head of the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) reported that his crews have already rescued over 9,300 people from the Mediterranean Sea in 2024.
Masoud Abdul Samad commended the team’s professionalism and stated that it will carry out its responsibilities from Libya’s newly constructed, EU-funded Maritime Rescue Coordination Center after it opens in October.
Neither the video footage of the LCG attacking a dinghy in the Mediterranean with dozens on board nor the masked armed men who halted a recent NGO rescue operation off the coast of Libya were mentioned. There was also no mention of the pervasive and well-recorded violence and murders that occur in Libyan migrant detention facilities.
Additionally, it was a component of a larger scheme to take resources from the EU in return for serving as its border guard across the ocean. Samad’s speech was given the day after Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the prime minister of Libya, called on Europe to increase aid in order to stop people from trying to reach Europe by passing through Libya. He advised states to help their North African allies secure their borders because they had a “moral responsibility” to migrants and refugees.
Watchdogs and human rights organizations concur that Europe has a moral obligation to assist refugees and migrants. However, they contend that strengthening support for organizations such as the LCG actually works against rather than in favor of that duty. Despite these worries, Europe and Libya appear committed to continuing their efforts, as evidenced by the impending opening of the rescue coordination center.
Maritime Rescue Coordination Centers: A Free Pass for Violations?
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) held trainings in 2018 as part of the initial announcement in 2017 of the plan to establish a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Libya. In 2018, the center played a crucial role in Libya’s successful application to create its own SAR area off its coast. By default, Italian maritime authorities had previously been in charge of the large area.
The rescue coordination center would improve Libya’s capacity to intercept migrants at sea, then-Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti told the Italian parliament in July 2017. At the time, he stated, “The goal is to accomplish this by the end of the year, or by the start of the next at the latest.”
The center is still not open seven years later. However, it appears that it might just open for business the following month. The center’s opening represents a strengthening of the EU’s reliance on Libya as an enforcer, even though it might not have a major impact on the dynamics of SAR operations in the Mediterranean.
Currently, the LCG hardly ever answers requests from NGO ships and doesn’t relay many of the distress calls it receives to neighboring vessels.
Rights organizations claim that the EU has decided to back a system of exploitation and abuse on the sea and in detention facilities, in which the Libyan Coast Guard is a key player, in the name of halting migration. They worry that the MRCC will only make that system stronger and further solidify the Libyan Coast Guard’s dominance.
Valeria Taurino, general director of SOS Méditerranée Italy, stated that the creation of the MRCC would have political repercussions regarding the legitimacy of the Libyan Coast Guard.
Taurino acknowledged, however, that she didn’t think much would change on the ground. “I honestly don’t think it will change anything on the operational impact level,” she stated. “Will the Italian government feel less accountable for saving lives?” I hope not.
Unresolved Distresses
When asked in July if the MRCC will increase the coast guard’s ability to respond to assistance requests, Libyan officials provided evasive answers. It is commonly known that the LCG hardly ever answers requests from NGO ships and does not forward many of the distress calls it receives to other vessels in the area.
Libya should not be trusted with vulnerable migrants, according to court confirmation. Three years ago, an Italian ship’s captain received a one-year prison sentence for turning over rescued passengers to Libyan authorities during the civil war that was still raging in that country. In 2018, the Italian-flagged supply ship Asso 28 saved 101 lives in the vicinity of an oil and gas rig in Libyan waters. The ship should have alerted the Italian authorities because it was Italian and was operating under Italian jurisdiction.
However, no official rescue center was contacted by the captain. Instead, he returned to Libya with the rescued individuals, which included a pregnant woman and five children. An Italian court found him guilty of leaving vulnerable people on his own initiative.
As shocking as it is, this isn’t new. Just yesterday, Libyan militias of the so-called Libyan coastguard brutally pulled back approx. 60 people to horrific conditions in Libya. Together with the MARIDIVE vessel they are responsible for this crime. pic.twitter.com/ptx8mXm0mL
— Sea-Watch International (@seawatch_intl) June 19, 2024
Increased Funding and Border Security
The eagerly anticipated MRCC is only a small portion of the assistance that Italy and the EU have given Libya in the past ten years. The €1.8 billion Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa, which was created in November 2015, has provided a large portion of that assistance. The European Commission’s president at the time, Jean-Claude Juncker, stated that the fund would deal with “the root causes of irregular migration.”
The use of Africa EUTF in Libya has been criticized in a recent report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Overall, the EUTF was not “concentrating enough on priorities to tackle the root causes of instability, irregular migration, and displacement on the African continent,” according to the report, which was released in September.
A failure to establish “formal procedures for reporting, recording, and following up on alleged human rights violations in relation to EU-funded projects” was another point of criticism leveled at the European Commission (EC). Regarding Libya in particular, the ECA discovered that funds had been used for infrastructure projects, such as the construction of a boulevard along the sea, in spite of the EUTF’s declared goal of addressing the underlying causes of instability, forced displacement, and irregular migration and aiding in improved migration management. Additionally, it stated that there was no proof that the Libyan Coast Guard had gotten the human rights training that was required of it as part of the EU’s assistance and that the Libyan Maritime Rescue Coordination Center was still not operational even after receiving equipment funded by the EU in December 2021. According to the auditors, “we did not see any formal evidence on the scope and content of these courses.”
Italy has contributed €42 million to Libya’s “border and migration management” since 2017, and the EU has contributed €16.8 million from its own funds. Strengthening the capacity of relevant Libyan authorities in the areas of border and migration management, including border control and surveillance, addressing human trafficking and smuggling, and search and rescue at sea and in the desert is the goal of the Italy-Libya project.
The Italian government has provided or renovated at least 12 ships for the Libyan Coast Guard as a result of bilateral agreements between Italy and Libya and the EU-funded migration management project. Early in 2023, Italy spent €8 million from the same fund to give Libya another patrol boat.
Witnesses reported seeing one of those boats in March of this year, when at least one person drowned, according to the Italian magazine Nigrizia. The Libyan Coast Guard reportedly arrived and fired shots into the water during a rescue operation conducted by the German nongovernmental organization SOS Humanity. According to reports, they also engaged in risky maneuvers that resulted in at least one fatality and multiple people falling into the sea.
Over 50,000 people have reached Italy by boat in 2024 alone, making the route from Libya one of the most-used sea migration paths in the Mediterranean. To counter the immigration, the Italian government deliberately expelled asylum seekers from the country’s land and sea territory.
But after successful national lawsuits from NGOs and the European Court on Human Rights condemning it, Italy abandoned the practice. Instead, the Italian authorities now apply an intricate set of measures to deter immigrants – from helping Libya intercept them to hindering search and rescue operations of humanitarian NGOs.
Brussels has continued to support the Libyan Coast Guard despite the incident and innumerable others like it.
