‘Humanitarian rescue' of migrants, or the EU's dirty work?
Though illegal under international law, the Libyan capture of migrants on the Mediterranean Sea has become commonplace in recent years as the EU has outsourced its effort to stop refugees from crossing its borders. Of course, Europe is not alone in this effort; Australia detains undocumented migrants in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Under the Obama administration, the American government paid the Mexican government to detain undocumented people trying to enter the United States. The Trump administration has since gone a big step further: shipping hundreds of undocumented people from US soil to a notoriously brutal mega-prison in El Salvador.
Migrant prisoners sit on the floor at Sabah Detention Center.
Pierre Kattar / Mohammed David /The Outlaw Ocean Project
Candé's story unfolds over the first three episodes of the new season of
For more than a decade, the EU has supplied the coast guard cutters, supplies for detention centers, aerial intelligence, and vehicles that the Libyans use to capture migrants crossing the Mediterranean hoping for a better life. Efficient and brutal, the at-sea capture and internment of these migrants in prisons in and around Tripoli is what European Union officials hail as part of a successful partnership with Libya in their 'humanitarian rescue' efforts across the Mediterranean. But the true intent of this joint campaign, according to many human rights advocates, legal experts, and members of the European Parliament, is less to save migrants from trafficking or drowning than to stop them from reaching European shores.
A handout from sea-watch.org on Frontex aerial drones operating on the Mediterranean to locate migrant boats for the purpose of blocking them from entering Europe.
Ed Ou//The Outlaw Ocean Project
Though the Libyan Coast Guard routinely opens fire on migrant rafts, has been tied by the United Nations to human trafficking and murder, and is now run by militias, it continues to draw strong EU support. Since at least 2017, the EU, led by Italy, has trained and equipped the Libyan Coast Guard to serve as a proxy maritime force, whose central purpose is to stop migrants from reaching European shores.
As part of a broader investigation, a reporter for The Outlaw Ocean Project, Ed Ou, spent several weeks in 2021 aboard a Doctors Without Borders vessel, filming its attempts to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean. The work is a life-or-death race. While the humanitarian ship tries to rescue migrants and take them to safety in Europe, the far faster, bigger, and more aggressive Libyan Coast Guard ships try to get to the migrants first so they can instead arrest them and return them to prisons in Libya. The EU has long denied playing an active role in this effort, but the reporters filmed drones operated by Frontex that are used to alert the Libyans to the exact location of migrant rafts.
An aid worker on a MSF ship keeps an eye on a Libyan Coast Guard vessel cutting across their bow at high speed.
Ed Ou//The Outlaw Ocean Project
'[Frontex] has never engaged in any direct cooperation with Libyan authorities,' the Frontex press office said in a statement responding to requests for comment on the investigation. But a mounting body of evidence collected by European journalists and nongovernmental organizations suggests that Frontex's involvement with the Libyan authorities is neither accidental nor limited. In 2020, for instance,
Aside from the EU role in helping Libya capture migrants at sea, the UN as well as humanitarian and human rights groups have roundly criticized European authorities for their role in creating and subsidizing a gulag of brutal migrant prisons in Libya. The EU has provided Libya with coast guard cutters, SUVs, and buses for moving captured migrants to prison.
For the EU, the challenge of how best to handle desperate migrants fleeing hardships in their native countries will only grow in coming years. Climate change is expected to displace 150 million people across the globe in the next 50 years. Rising seas, desertification, and famine promise to drive desperate people to global north countries like the US and Europe, testing the moral character and political imagination of these wealthier nations.
These factors were especially palpable for Aliou Candé, who grew up on a farm near the remote village of Sintchan Demba Gaira, Guinea-Bissau, a place without basic amenities like plumbing or electricity. Candé had a reputation as a dogged worker, who avoided trouble of any kind. 'People respected him,' his brother Jacaria said.
In May 2021, journalists for The Outlaw Ocean Project reported from Libya, the Mediterranean, and Guinea Bissau to piece together the story of Aliou Candé. They spoke with friends, relatives, community leaders, and other prisoners held in cell four of Al Mabani to understand the circumstances leading up to his death. Critically, Candé's uncle had contacts for Candé's family back in Guinea-Bissau, and we were able to begin to put together a portrait.
But the 28-year-old would become a climate migrant. Droughts in Guinea-Bissau had become more common and longer, flooding became more unpredictable and damaging, and Candé's crops — cassava, mangoes, and cashews — were failing and his children were going hungry. Milk production from his cows was so meager that his children were allowed to drink it just once a month. The shift in climate had brought more mosquitos, and with them more disease. He believed there was only one way to improve their conditions: to go to Europe. His brothers had done it. His family encouraged him to try.
In the late summer of 2019, he set out for Europe with six hundred Euros. He told his wife he was not sure how long he'd be away, but he did his best to be optimistic. 'I love you,' he told her, 'and I'll be back.' In January 2020, he arrived in Morocco, where he tried to pay for a passage on a boat to Spain, but learned that the price was three thousand Euros, much more than he had.
Candé then headed to Libya, where he could book a cheaper raft to Italy. In February 2021, he and more than a hundred other migrants pushed off from the Libyan shore aboard an inflatable rubber raft. After their boat was detected by the Libyan Coast Guard, the migrants were taken back to land, loaded by armed guards into buses and trucks, and driven to Al Mabani, which is Arabic for 'the buildings.'
Candé was not charged with a crime or allowed to speak to a lawyer, and he was given no indication of how long he'd be detained. In his first days there, he kept mostly to himself, submitting to the grim routines of the place. The prison was controlled by a militia that euphemistically calls itself the Public Security Agency, and its gunmen patrolled the hallways.
Cells were so crowded that the detainees had to sleep in shifts. In a special room, guards hung migrants upside from ceiling beams and beat them. In an audio message recorded on a hidden cell phone, Candé made a plea to his family to send the ransom for his release.
In the early hours of April 8, 2021, he was shot to death when guards fired indiscriminately
into a cellblock of detainees during
a fight. His death went uninvestigated, his killer unpunished. Aliou Candé was buried in an overcrowded migrant cemetery in Tripoli, more than 2,000 miles from his family in Guinea-Bissau.
Bir al-Osta Milad Cemetery where Aliou Candé and other dead migrants are buried.
Pierre Kattar/The Outlaw Ocean Project
One month after Candé's death, a team of four reporters from the Outlaw Ocean Project traveled to Libya to investigate. Almost no Western journalists are permitted to enter Libya, but, with the help of an international aid group, they were granted visas.
Initially, Libyan officials said the team could visit Al Mabani, but after a week in Tripoli it became clear that this would not happen. So the journalists found a hidden spot on a side street, a half-mile from the detention center, and launched a small drone. The drone made it to the facility unnoticed, and captured close-ups of the prison's open courtyard. The team also interviewed dozens of migrants who had been imprisoned with Candé at the same detention center.
A week into the investigation, the lead reporter, Ian Urbina, was speaking with his wife from his hotel room in Tripoli when he heard a knock at the door. Upon opening it, he was confronted by a dozen armed men who stormed into the room. He was immediately forced to the ground, a gun pressed to his forehead, and a hood placed over his head. What followed was a violent assault: The journalist sustained broken ribs, facial injuries, and internal trauma after being kicked repeatedly.
Other members of the team — including an editor, photographer, and filmmaker — were also detained. The group was blindfolded, separated, and interrogated for hours at a time. Under Libyan law, authorities may detain foreign nationals indefinitely without formal charges.
The US State Department became involved after the journalist's wife, who had heard the commotion over the phone, raised the alarm. American officials quickly identified the detaining authority and began negotiating for the team's release.
After six days in custody, the team was unexpectedly told they were free to leave. No formal charges were filed and no official explanation for their detention was provided. They were lucky. The experience — deeply frightening but mercifully short — offered a glimpse into the world of indefinite detention in Libya.
With no explanation from the government, fanfare by aid groups, nor coverage by domestic or foreign media, Al Mabani officially closed on January 13, 2022. In its roughly 12-month lifespan, the prison became emblematic of the unaccountable nature of Libya's broader detention system.
The quiet shuttering of Al Mabani illustrates the ever-shifting nature of incarceration in Libya and how such transience makes protection of detainees nearly impossible.
In the same month that Al Mabani was closed, the team behind the reporting presented details of their investigation to the European Parliament's human rights committee, and outlined the EU's extensive support for Libya's migration control apparatus. European Commission representatives took issue with the reporters' characterization of the crisis. 'We are not funding the war against migrants,' said Rosamaria Gili, the Libya country director at the European External Action Service. 'We are trying to instill a culture of human rights.'
And yet, just a week later, Henrike Trautmann, a representative of the European Commission, told lawmakers that the EU was going to provide five more vessels to the Libyan Coast Guard to bolster its ability to intercept migrants on the high seas.
A small wooden boat packed with refugees waving and smiling with elation after being found by MSF aid workers.
Ed Ou//The Outlaw Ocean Project
'We know the Libyan context is far from optimal for this,' Trautmann conceded. 'We think it's still preferable to continue to support this than to leave them to their own devices.'
Meanwhile, the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean continues. At least two thousand migrants died in 2024 while making this perilous passage, according to the UN, and, during the same period, the Libyan Coast Guard captured an additional twenty thousand that were brought back to prisons like Al Mabani in and around Tripoli. In February of this year, Libyan authorities held a training exercise with the EU border officials.
The Trump administration has also taken note: In May,
The status of both of those plans remains unclear.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
35 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Netherlands Defence Minister: NATO-wide 5% defence spend would be "historic"
Ruben Brekelmans, Netherlands Minister of Defence said they and their European partners support President Donald Trump's calls to encourage Iran to the negotiation table in order to "come to a sustainable solution". Speaking about the upcoming NATO meeting, he told Bloomberg's Oliver Crook "if we agree to 5% spending on core defence and defence-related matters, that would be a historic step" and said it would be of particular significance "if 32 allies in unity agree on this". (Source: Bloomberg)
Associated Press
37 minutes ago
- Associated Press
EU finds 'indications' Israel is breaching their trade deal with its actions in Gaza
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union says there are ″indications″ that Israel's actions in Gaza are violating human rights obligations in its trade agreement with the EU, according to its findings seen by The Associated Press. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas presented the review to foreign minsters of the 27-member bloc in Brussels on Monday, leading at least one country to openly propose suspending the trade deal. 'There are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Associated Agreement,' according to the review by the EU's diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service. A third of Israel's imports come from the EU, valued at $27 billion annually, while Europe imports less than 1% of its goods from Israel, according to the EU Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security. Suspending trade ties would require a unanimous decision, which is likely impossible to obtain from countries like Austria, Germany and Hungary that tend to back Israel. Other actions — such as ending visa-free travel to Europe for Israelis, sanctioning Israeli settlers in the West Bank or halting academic partnerships — could be pushed if a 'qualified majority' — 15 of the 27 nations representing at least 65% of the population of the EU — agree. Countries like the Netherlands, Ireland and Spain have been vocal in their support for the Palestinians in Gaza as Israel battles Hamas. 'When all the focus is on Iran and the escalation regarding Iran, we should not forget about Gaza,' said Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp, who led the charge for the review. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostages. About 56,000 Palestinians have since been killed, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, and little relatively aid has entered since Israel ended the latest ceasefire in March. Outrage over Israel's actions in Gaza has grown in Europe as images of suffering Palestinians have driven protests in London, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid and Amsterdam. Spain has canceled arms deals with Israel and called for an arms embargo. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares Bueno on Monday called for suspending the EU-Israel trade agreement. 'The time for words and declarations is behind. We had enough time,' he told the meeting. 'And at the same time, Palestinians in Gaza have no more time to lose. Every day, babies, women, men are being killed. This is the time for action.' Manuel Albares also called for an embargo on EU countries selling weapons to Israel and for the widening of individual sanctions on anyone undermining the proposed two-state solution. 'Europe must show courage,' he told journalists. ___ Associated Press writers Lorne Cooke in The Hague and Ella Joyner in Brussels contributed to this report.
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
Britain, U.S. warn Iran against Strait of Hormuz blockade
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) and Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy (L) at a meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels in April. File Photo by NATO/UPI | License Photo June 23 (UPI) -- Britain cautioned Iran Monday that attempts to block the Strait of Hormuz or to strike at American military facilities in the Middle East could lead to escalation, even as Israel continued its strikes on Iran. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Monday that such actions would be a "catastrophic mistake." "It would be a huge, catastrophic mistake to fire at U.S. bases in the region at this time. We have forces in the region at this time," said Lammy in an interview with BBC Breakfast. The Iranian parliament moved Sunday to approve a measure to close the Strait in response to the American strikes on Iran over the weekend. The strait serves as a critical route for oil being shipped from Persian Gulf countries, but ultimately it will come down to whether Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decides to move forward with such a plan. Close to 30% of the world's seaborne oil shipments are moved through the strait. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also commented Sunday against Iranian interference with movement through the strait. He spoke with Fox News and called on China to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz. "I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil," said Rubio, as China is a key oil customer of Iran. "The Persian Gulf and nearby waters are important route for international trade in goods and energy. Keeping the region safe and stable serves the common interests of the international community," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a press conference Monday. "China calls on the international community to step up effort to promote de-escalation of the conflict and prevent the regional turmoil from having a greater impact on global economic growth." Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces announced Monday on social media that it "struck routes in order to obstruct access" to the Fordow nuclear enrichment site in Iran's Qom province. The IDF also proclaimed it attacked six Iranian airports "across western, central, and eastern Iran, destroying runways, underground hangars, refueling aircraft, F-14, F-5 and AH-1 aircraft." It further alleged the strikes "impaired takeoff capabilities from these airports, as well as the Iranian military's ability to operate its air force from them."
