UN report singles out EU for funding Libyan migrant interception

When a group of 108 migrants tried to sail from Libya to Malta, they were intercepted by Libyan Coast Guard ship. The personnel on board started to load them onto the ship and threatened to shoot any migrants that tried to escape. One of the casualties of this operation was a newborn baby, who fell into the water after it was “thrown” from the migrant boat to the ship.

This is just one harrowing detail from a UN fact-finding mission report on the exploitation of migrants in Libya since 2016.

In this report, the UN found several violations of international human rights law by Libyan state entities, but also held the European Union and its member states responsible for funding and supporting these abuses.

The report notes that Malta, with Italy, have long been warned about violations at sea, in detention centres, along trafficking routes and in trafficking hubs. “Nonetheless, in accordance with memorandums of understanding between Libya and third States, the Libyan authorities have continued their policy of intercepting and returning migrants to Libya, where their mistreatment resumes, in violation of the principle of non-refoulement.”

“Based on the substantial evidence and reports before it, the Missin found grounds to believe that the European Union and its member States, directly or indirectly, provided monetary, technical and logistical support to the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) and Department for Combating Illegal Immigration (DCIM) that was used in the context of interception and detention of migrants.”

The report accuses the EU and its member states of supplying Libyan authorities with rubber boats for coastal patrolling as well as SUVs, buses, ambulances and radio-satellite communication devices.

In the case of the 108 migrants intercepted while en route to Malta, according to the witness interviewed by the mission, the men and women were taken back to the disembarkation point in Tripoli. They were met with a group of security forces, whose faces were covered, and the migrants were boarded onto buses. Items such as passports and rings were taken away from them. “A witness mentioned that a captain approached the migrants and offered to release those that could pay 100 to 200 United States dollars, a deal that the witness said was not even honoured for those who did pay.”

Malta is one EU member state that has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Libya to increase capacity-building and coordination support to Libyan entities involved in migrant interception. The MoU signed in 2020 saw Malta finance migration coordination centres in Tripoli and Valletta, manned by six people in total.

Under the agreement, Malta was to propose to the European Commission and member states to increase financial support for the Libyan Government of the National Accord (GNA) to help secure the country’s borders and provide the necessary technologies for border control and protection.

Malta was also expected to fund additional maritime assets required to intercept and follow up on human trafficking activities in the Mediterranean basin’s SAR zone. The MoU is set to expire this year.

The UN report gives a detailed description of what Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) interception and disembarkation operations look like. Migrants who spoke with the UN mission recalled how LCG ships would make seemingly deliberate unsafe manoeuvres that would lead to boat capsizes or would cause migrants to fall into the water and drown.

“The Mission also found reasonable grounds to believe that personnel on LCG ships shot at or near boats carrying migrants, causing migrants to jump into the water, seeking temporary safety. Migrants were often physically and verbally assaulted and threatened by LCG personnel and other security officials during their transfer onto LCG ships and forced return to Libya.”

Malta is not the only EU country to have offered support to Libya’s interception efforts. In 2017, Italy signed an MoU with Libya agreeing to help the Libyan Coast Guard and enhance its maritime surveillance capacity while providing financial and technical support. It was renewed in November 2022 without amendments.

Over and above, the Brookings Institute says the EU has offered support to the Libyan Coast Guard and other government agencies to the tune of $455 million since 2015. Last February, the European Commission handed over five specialised search and rescue vessels to the Libyan Coast Guard. This project was initiated by the European Commission and implemented by the Ministry of Interior of Italy.

The European Commission insisted that such projects aim to avoid the loss of life as migrants cross the Mediterranean by tackling human trafficking at source. But as resources go to interception, Libyan entities still commmit violations and abuses against migrants. The UN report describes a revolving door by which migrants are captured, released, recaptured, manage to escape, and end up being intercepted again: “Typically, migrants made their way out of places of detention following the payment of ransom, a successful escape, or en masse discharge, only to be captured again by the same actor that had detained them or another group.”

“An overwhelming number of interviewed migrants described to the Mission that they had attempted to escape detention and cross into Europe several times, some five to ten times over. Persons migrating to Europe were loaded, at times against their will, onto varied kinds of boats. Some of the boats were barely seaworthy and overloaded by smugglers and traffickers, ultimately resulting in their sinking at sea and a loss of life.”

Conditions in Libyan detention centres were no better than conditions at sea. Migrants told the mission that there were few mattresses and sleeping accommodations at the centres. They were overcrowded, toilets were never cleaned, and quarters had to be shared with detainees with infectious diseases.

There was also reasonable proof of sexual slavery and forced labour in certain detention centres. A child from Guinea told the Mission: “Women are sexual objects there. Some women are used as prostitutes but are not paid. They are like slaves.” The girl had been sodomised after being sent to do domestic work for a man outside the building where the migrants were being kept.

Women, men, boys and girls were also forced to work in factories. A child from Mali described being taken to a farm and made to work with animals. When he confronted the man at the farm on why he could not leave, he found out that he had been bought by him.