Frontex and the accusations of collaboration with Libya

In a recent investigation published by Lighthouse Report, Frontex is accused of sharing the location of migrant boats with the Libyan coast guard via email over 2,000 times in three years. The accusations are part of a broader context of collaboration and agreements between the European Union and strategically relevant states to outsource the management of migration flows.

What is Frontex and how does it operate

Frontex was founded in 2004 and is the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. It was created with the aim of strengthening the security and control of the European Union's external borders. Frontex supports in terms of personnel and resources in aspects such as combating cross-border crime, aerial surveillance and information gathering, return procedures, and the use of new technologies. After the migration crisis of 2015, the border states, especially in Eastern and Southern Europe, decided to militarize their borders to prevent the entry of migrants and asylum seekers and pushed for further expansion of the agency, which in the 2021-2027 budget of the European Union received around 5.6 billion euros (a budget higher than most other European agencies). In addition to hundreds of Frontex agents, military means such as ships, aircraft, and drones are also deployed to conduct surveillance operations. The videos, data, and information collected are sent to Frontex's central headquarters in Warsaw, where decisions are made on when and who to alert regarding vessels in distress. The use of technology can be an effective method for monitoring large maritime and border areas; however, Frontex is accused of sending data and the position of migrants to Libyan authorities despite Libya not being considered a "safe port" several times.

Matteo de Bellis, a researcher on refugee rights at Amnesty International, summarizes the concept well by stating: "Frontex uses planes and drones to identify all people trying to reach safety in Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, and then alerts the Libyan coast guard. As a result, refugees and migrants are regularly intercepted and returned to Libya, where they undergo arbitrary detention and mass-scale torture."

The Central Mediterranean route is already particularly dangerous, especially due to the challenges posed by the sea crossing. According to the Missing Migrant Project of IOM, since the project's launch in 2014, 29,056 deaths and/or disappearances have been recorded along the route. Thousands of migrants and asylum seekers have died trying to reach Europe from North Africa, particularly from Libya, while the European Union is accused of providing boats, training, and aerial surveillance to Libyan armed groups in order to intercept and forcibly return people to Libya.

Why Libya cannot be considered a safe port

Some of the most important international organizations operating in the field of migration (ECRE, IOM, Amnesty International), along with media reports and NGOs, have repeatedly denounced human rights violations in Libya. Even the report of the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya states: "I reiterate that Libya is not a safe disembarkation port and that all refugees and migrants intercepted along the Central Mediterranean route should be assigned a safe disembarkation port, in accordance with the law of the sea, international maritime law, international human rights law, and refugee law.” The reason why Libya is not considered a safe port primarily includes ongoing abuses against people on the move who are placed in detention centers, where they report rape and torture. Most are released only after their families have paid thousands of dollars in ransom.

Further confirmation comes from the recent ruling of the Italian Court of Cassation, which convicted the commander of a tugboat operating in international waters near oil platforms. In July 2018, after spotting a dinghy with migrants in distress, the tugboat hosted the people on board, subsequently handing them over to the Libyan Coast Guard. The verdict states that the commander of the Asso 28 "led the 101 shipwrecked persons embarked, having them transferred to a Libyan patrol boat, causing them serious harm, consisting of their collective refoulement, a conduct prohibited by international conventions.” The judges established that it was refoulement to a country considered unsafe, and therefore an action prohibited by the European Convention on Human Rights. In fact, migrants were denied the opportunity to obtain international protection and were transferred to a country where abuses and torture have been extensively documented.

Previously, the collaborative agency Lighthouse Reports had published reports regarding the collaboration between the EU border agency Frontex and the Libyan Coast Guard, highlighting direct connections between Frontex's aerial resources spotting the boats and their subsequent interception by the Coast Guard. Despite continuous reports of abuses and torture, Frontex has avoided publicly criticizing the Libyan Coast Guard. And until now, it was relatively difficult to get an idea of the extent to which Frontex has shared information with the Libyan Coast Guard.

Recommendations to prevent further deaths at sea and collaborations with states that commit human rights violations speak of establishing safe and legal pathways for migration and suspending cooperation with Libyan authorities until they guarantee compliance with the obligation not to repatriate individuals to places where they suffer abuses, inhumane detention conditions, and lack access to international protection. The European Union should focus on saving human lives and ensuring that people are disembarked at a safe port without being returned to the abuses they have suffered or will suffer in Libya, using its significant means and technical capabilities to take on search and rescue responsibilities in the Mediterranean.

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Translated by Stefania Errico