Europe's Human Rights Court Sides With Italy Over Migration Shipwreck
People crossing the Mediterranean sea off the Libyan coast. (Photo by Matias CHIOFALO / AFP) (Photo ... More by MATIAS CHIOFALO/AFP via Getty Images)
The European Court of Human Rights has sided with Italy in a controversial case involving a shipwreck in the Mediterranean. The case gets to the heart of a complicated - and highly controversial - relationship Italy has with what is known as the Libyan Coast Guard, in its attempts to control migration between North Africa and Europe.
The case relates to the treatment of people attempting to reach Europe who were intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) - which is a nebulous entity comprising forces of the Libyan Navy as well as militias and criminal groups - in 2017. After getting into trouble at sea, the group of people - around 150 people seeking shelter in Europe - were intercepted by an LCG vessel and taken back to Libya. Around twenty people died during the episode.
Years later, a case was brought against Italy by some of the survivors of that tragedy. The survivors argued that, in effect, Italy was responsible for what happened, as Italy - and the European Union overall - have funded and aided the LCG over the years and use it as a proxy border enforcement force. For many years the LCG has been observed acting as such a proxy, intercepting and returning people trying to escape Libya, in exchange for hundreds of millions of euros in funding, materiel and training.
This relationship, the survivors of the 2017 shipwreck say, is what makes Italy accountable for what happened, even if it took place outside of Italy's area of responsibility in the Mediterranean (known as the search and rescue, or 'SAR,' zone).
In its ruling, however, the European Court of Human Rights decided to dismiss the case. 'The Court found that the criteria for concluding that a State Party had exercised extraterritorial jurisdiction (…) had not been met in the circumstances of the case," read the decision. In other words, Italy wasn't responsible for the behavior of the LCG.
This decision is important as it gets to the heart of a long-standing complaint from NGOs and civil society groups. Although there is no specific deal between authorities in Libya and the EU (at least none that is publicly known) that states the LCG will prevent people from reaching Europe in exchange for funding, that appears to observers to be what is happening. In effect, it is alleged, Europe is paying Libya to handle its migration 'problem' for it, and in doing so facilitating the forced return (or 'pullback') of people to a country where they face extreme abuse and danger.
The EU has for a long time tended to deny this is the arrangement, rather stating that funding and equipping the LCG is a matter of managing migration 'safely' amid historic numbers of people dying in the Mediterranean. This latest court ruling adds perceived weight to the EU's assertion that the LCG is not acting on its behest, even as migration advocates and activists continue to assert the opposite, and potentially takes pressure off EU policymakers from ending the relationship.
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