Seven non-governmental organisations called for an end to the criminalisation of their search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean Sea and strongly criticised the inaction of the Libyan coastguard and the living conditions of migrants in Libya on Monday 18 March, during a meeting with members of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties (LIBE), Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Human Rights (DROI) Committees.
"We call for an end to the criminalisation of NGOs involved in search and rescue at the judicial, political and media levels", exhorted Giorgia Linardi, a member of Sea Watch, one of the seven NGOs nominated for the 2018 Sakharov Prize - rewarding those who have made an outstanding contribution to the fight for human rights around the world - who attended the event.
Saving people at sea is a duty, not a right, and certainly not a crime," said Pia Klemp, a member of Solidarity at Sea.
On the basis of their observations and the many testimonies they have gathered, the NGOs also denounced the violence and torture allegedly perpetrated by the Libyan authorities against migrants, as well as the lack of action by the Libyan coastguard.
"Libya is described as hell by the people we save", Linardi said, for example.
For these organisations, it is unacceptable for the European Union to allow the Libyan coastguard to carry out search and rescue operations, when they have neither the necessary means nor the real will to do so, and when many migrants have told them that they would rather die than return to Libya.
The training of the Libyan coastguard is part of the EUNAVFOR Med Sophia operation, which could be stopped at the end of March (see EUROPE 12216/5).
The NGOs other demands particularly included respect for international law applicable to search and rescue at sea, the establishment of a general system for the reassignment of migrants at the EU level, and the "evacuation of Libya" through the creation of safe and legal migration routes to Europe.
Providing legal insight, Eric David, Professor of International Law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, recalled the existence of the "obligation to assist", set out in Article 98 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, according to which "every State shall require the captain of a ship flying its flag to render assistance to anyone found in danger at sea". In his view, assisting overcrowded boats that are in danger of sinking is merely a response to this rule of law.
As a coincidence in the calendar, Matteo Salvini, the Italian Minister of the Interior, announced on Twitter on the same day that his country would not open its ports to the Mare Jonio, an Italian-flagged humanitarian ship that rescued 49 migrants off the Libyan coast on Monday.
Asked by the press on Tuesday, a European Commission spokeswoman, Natasha Bertaud, said that this event once again illustrates the urgency of setting up landing arrangements, referring to the ongoing discussions on the temporary mechanism for disembarkation of migrants rescued at sea proposed by the Commission (see EUROPE 12209/3). She concluded, "The Commission reiterates once again its call to all Member States to take into account first and foremost the humanitarian imperative and to contribute to a rapid resolution of the situation". (Original version in French by Damien Genicot - internship)