Aid organizations the Red Cross and SOS Méditerranée say the Libyan coastguard fired on a lifeboat carrying aid workers and migrants – including five minors – in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday. On a video which came out on Tuesday, a large patrol boat can be seen approaching them at high speed and firing. The passengers quickly dove away. No one was injured.
According to the Red Cross, this is the third time this year that rescuers in the Mediterranean have come under fire. Aid organization Doctors Without Borders was also held at gunpoint and threatened by the Libyan coastguard in January. “We want to do our humanitarian work safely and not be discouraged,” says Erik Laan, spokesman for Doctors Without Borders. But obstructing rescue workers also plays a political role.
Punishable
The Netherlands may penalize rescue workers for helping migrants at sea. A bill from the Ministry of Justice wants to extend the criminalization of human smuggling, so that aid workers are also punishable.
In practice, this means that employees who sail on a lifeboat can be arrested upon arrival in the Netherlands, Laan explains by telephone. The burden of proof then lies with the organization to prove that it concerns rescue work. According to him, foreign aid workers on the rescue ship Geo Barents can also be charged if they set foot on Dutch soil.
“Our organization is managed from the Netherlands. Can we still guarantee colleagues that they will not be arrested?” Lane wonders. “We think it is part of a broader shift from a European discourse towards increasingly criminalizing humanitarian aid, particularly in the area of migration.”
Earlier this year, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) angered NGOs when he said that these organizations are part of “a cynical business model of people smugglers”. “The pot blames the kettle,” says Laan. “Who really cooperates with people smugglers?”
‘circular company’
The European Commission (EC), which subsidizes the Libyan coastguard, acknowledged last Thursday that there are clear indications that the coastguard is being infiltrated by criminal groups. Nevertheless, the EC, together with the Italian authorities, recently donated two patrol boats to the Libyan coastguard. A former police officer from Libya told the news website last year EUobserver that’s the Coast Guard intercepted migrants and refugees of all their possessionsbefore handing them over to smugglers. He described it as a “circular company” in which various parties earn money from the migrant.
Libya is known for its violent interceptions. “Refugees are beaten, rubber boats are cut off and people fall into the water,” said coordinator Caroline Willemen of Doctors Without Borders in March. NRC. “As a result, more people are drowning or intercepted by the Libyan coastguard, where they end up again in a detention center, where they are subjected to forced labour, exploitation and violence.”
The European Parliament will vote on a motion on Thursday calling for new, expanded search and rescue operations by EU countries and border agency Frontex, in the absence of sufficient action by individual member states. “We welcome that if it really means that the EU will assume its responsibility for rescue operations. Then we can stop.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of July 13, 2023.