How Many More Red Lines Will Be Crossed in the Mediterranean?

On 24 August, what search and rescue NGOs had been warning against for years became a violent reality: a patrol boat operated by the Libyan Coast Guard opened fire without warning on the Ocean Viking, a humanitarian rescue ship operated by SOS MEDITERRANEE in partnership with IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). On board were 87 survivors, who had just been rescued from distress at sea, and 34 crew members.

The assailants were on board a patrol vessel identified as the HOUN PB 664 – a “Corrubia class” vessel donated by Italy through an EU-funded migration management programme. 

This incident was not an isolated mishap but the climax of a years-long pattern of violence enabled and ignored by European governments.

In 2023 alone, SOS MEDITERRANEE documented three separate security incidents involving Libyan Coast Guard patrol vessels donated by Italy. In 2024, search and rescue NGOs noted eight incidents during which LCG boats threatened or shot at their vessels. As of today, six different rescue organisations were targeted, including the attack of rescue ship Sea-Watch 5 on 26th of September by LCG vessel Ubari. The seven Libyan Coast Guard boats involved in those violent incidents have been donated by Italy on behalf of the European Union. 

Complicity and Escalation

This assault represents the crossing of a red line, drawing attention not only to the reckless brutality of Libya’s Coast Guard but also to the responsibility of the European Union and Italy, who have systematically equipped, trained and armed these forces in the name of migration control. 

Since the 2017 Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding aimed at “securing national borders, eliminating irregular migration and human trafficking, and strengthening cooperation in development” – at least 36 vessels have been handed over to what is in effect a loose coalition of militias, notorious for violence against migrants and complicity at sea and on land. 

The report of the UN Fact-Finding mission on Libya in 2023 found that crimes against humanity were committed “in relation to sea interceptions, pullbacks, and returns” while official data shows a surge in such forced returns to Libya — 50% of those attempting to flee were intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard and forcibly returned in 2019, up from 12% in 2017. In 2024, one out of three people trying to flee Libya was intercepted. Detention, torture, extortion and sexual violence are now routine in Libya, forming a lucrative economy of exploitation fuelled by European policy choices.

It has become painfully clear that the EU’s strategy of outsourcing border management to Libya is not only failing to protect lives but actively enabling armed actors who violate human rights, and international humanitarian and maritime law. 

The Libyan Coast Guard vessels delivered by Italy on behalf of the EU — including the Corrubia-class patrol boats — are warships designed for coastal defence capable of fast attacks. Although supplied without weapon mounts, the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on Libya has noted these boats are commonly and easily armed after delivery. Because they were built for military use, the vessels qualify as war material. 

In 2022, the Panel deemed the 2018 Italian donation of two Corrubias a violation of the UN arms embargo. In July 2024, nine NGOs wrote to the Security Council warning the 2023 deliveries may also breach the embargo. However, the December 2024 UN Panel report controversially reversed previous findings, concluding that the Corrubias, if demilitarised, are “non-lethal military material” and thus exempt from the embargo, aligning with Italy and the EU’s position.

A System that Fuels Exploitation

Attacks like this not only threaten rescue operations but contribute to trapping people on the move in a relentless cycle of abuse.

Under the leadership of the self-organisation Refugees in Libya, a wide range of civil society actors have come together this year to demand the suspension of the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding that props up this perverse system. We have joined their call.

Political leaders in the European Union and Italy must be held accountable for the violence carried out by their partners at sea. At a minimum, there must be an immediate suspension of all European support for the Libyan Coast Guard, and a decisive end to the targeting and harassment of humanitarian workers as requested by 42 civil society organisations in an open letter to the EU Commission earlier this month. 

Absent concrete action – including reform or repeal of Italy’s agreement with Libya before its automatic renewal in February 2026 – the EU should urgently reassess, suspend or terminate all migration cooperation with regimes that fail to uphold basic human rights.

Signataries

SOS MEDITERRANEE 

SOS Humanity

Sea-Watch

Médecins Sans Frontières

MISSION LIFELINE INTERNATIONAL 

REFUGEES IN LIBYA 

REFUGEES IN TUNISIA 

r42 Sail And Rescue

EMERGENCY

Seebrücke 

Sea-Eye

Emergency 

Actionaid Italia

ASGI Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration

Oxfam Italia