EU-funded Libyan Coast Guard obstruct MSF rescue operation

MSF teams witness forced return and obstruction

On Friday March 15, the MSF team witnessed a pushback by the EU-funded Libyan Coast Guard. This happened in international waters in the Maltese search and rescue zone, clearly outside the Libyan Coast Guard’s area of responsibility. Despite MSF’s offer to provide assistance and bring people to a place of safety, Maltese authorities and Frontex coordinated with a Libyan Coast Guard patrol vessel—donated by Italy—to intercept and forcibly return over 100 people to Libya. 

The following day, another Libyan Coast Guard patrol vessel—also donated by the Italian government—aggressively obstructed MSF’s rescue of 146 people aboard a wooden boat in distress in international waters. MSF had already started to transfer people from the wooden boat to the Geo Barents when the Libyan Coast Guard dangerously blocked our teams from completing the rescue for nearly two hours, risking the lives of everyone on board. The Libyan Coast Guard also attempted to forcibly board MSF’s inflatable rescue boat while directly threatening our staff with reprisals before eventually leaving the area and allowing MSF to complete the rescue.

Meanwhile, a fiberglass boat in distress was adrift some 50 nautical miles away, with 75 people on board. Despite the Libyan authorities being alerted about the situation around midday and repeatedly saying that a patrol vessel was on its way, 10 hours passed without any rescue operations launched by the Libyan Coast Guard.

“When we arrived on the scene, the situation was critical. The boat was already sinking. People were terrified,” says Virginia Mielgo, MSF project coordinator on Geo Barents. “Then the boat capsized and about 45 people fell into the water. Fortunately, we had already distributed lifejackets to everyone and evacuated the children, some less than three years old. It was just a matter of minutes before the situation could have taken a tragic turn.”

Facing the consequences of inhumane policies

The events over the weekend are another clear demonstration of the lack of search and rescue capacity in the Central Mediterranean—and ultimately, the EU and its member states’ complete disregard for human lives.  

Since 2017, the EU and Italy have spent at least €59 million (about $64 million) supplying and training the Libyan Coast Guard to stop arrivals to Europe. Instead of investing in proactive search and rescue capacity or coordinating with NGO rescue vessels to bring people to a place of safety, the EU has deliberately chosen to facilitate the forced return of people to Libya, where they face physical and sexual violence, forced labor, indefinite detention, and extortion. 

“How long will EU leaders continue to actively fuel horrific human rights abuses at its borders?” says Gil. “Not only must the EU and its member states immediately stop all support to the Libyan Coast Guard, but [they] must also investigate the responsibility of coastal states—in this case, Malta and its border agency, Frontex—in the unlawful pushbacks occurring almost daily in the Central Mediterranean Sea. [This makes the EU] complicit in grave human rights violations.”

On Saturday, March 16, 2024, the MSF team conducted three different rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean Sea. In the afternoon, after first rescuing 28 people from a fiberglass boat, the MSF team rescued another 146 people in distress on a wooden boat while the Libyan Coast Guard dangerously interfered and delayed the completion of the rescue operation. Later that night, 75 people were rescued from another fiberglass boat that capsized, plunging about 45 people into the water. A total of 249 people, including many children, are currently aboard Geo Barents and heading towards Marina di Carrara, in the north of Italy, to disembark in safety.