Europe’s recipe for crisis and chaos in the Mediterranean

INTERNATIONAL WATERS NORTH OF LIBYA — As the number of people attempting the perilous passage across the Mediterranean Sea continues to rise, Italy and the European Union recently approved new measures to “stem the migratory flow.”

Sadly, what they are proposing — additional support for the Libyan Coast Guard and a “code of conduct” for NGOs — will only cause more to drown at Europe’s doorstep.

Pouring millions of euros into training the Libyan Coast Guard — an organization whose legitimacy and reliability are as fractious as the country itself — has been a central part of the EU’s plan to slow migration.

But from my experience working as a physician on a search-and-rescue vessel operated by the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), it is obvious this approach has failed. If Italy and the EU continue to expect positive results from a losing formula it will be responsible for putting more lives at risk.

The Libyan Coast Guard has been accused of multiple maritime law and human rights violations by search-and-rescue organizations. In May, our vessel witnessed the Libyan Coast Guard dangerously disrupt a rescue operation and put the lives of migrants and rescue teams at risk. Dozens of people jumped off a boat after armed members of the coast guard boarded it and intimidated its passengers, reportedly demanding money, mobile phones and personal belongings. Mass panic ensued as they shot into the air and people desperately tried to swim toward our ship.

A code of conduct for NGOs involved in Mediterranean rescue operations is even more hypocritical and alarming.

The Libyan Coast Guard turned a standard rescue into crisis and chaos.

Continued insistence on training and financial support also overlooks the fact that even if the Libyan Coast Guard were to carry out successful rescue operations at sea — an unlikely prospect in the short term — it would only return migrants to inhumane detention centers in Libya.

In my clinic on board our search-and-rescue vessel, patients routinely describe these centers as “prisons” where detainees are starved, raped or forced to call family members while they are tortured in an attempt to solicit ransom.

I treat the physical and psychological wounds inflicted in these centers, and my patients frequently tell me, “I’d rather die at sea than be brought back to Libya.”

NGOs not the problem

As troubling as this part of the EU’s plan is, a code of conduct for NGOs involved in Mediterranean rescue operations is even more hypocritical and alarming.

The EU’s proposal implies NGOs have been operating without one. But organizations like ours maintain strict adherence to long-established humanitarian principles — humanity, neutrality, independence and impartiality — as well as all internationally mandated search and rescue and maritime laws.

As Italy and the EU are certainly aware, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) in Rome coordinates all search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean. In compliance with international maritime law, every vessel — including all NGO vessels involved in rescue operations — receive and follow orders from the MRCC about where rescues can safely occur, how to coordinate rescues in that area and in which ports rescued persons can disembark.

MRCC has handled this massive undertaking miraculously well, despite the surge in arrivals on Italian shores. In the absence of concrete examples in which NGO vessels have flouted the authority of the MRCC, international maritime law or long-established humanitarian principles, the insistence on a code of conduct is an empty diversion that undermines the contribution of NGOs.

Migrants who were rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard off the Libyan coast arrive at the naval base in Tripoli | Mahmud Turkia/AFP via Getty Images

Pouring additional resources into Libya will not make people safer at sea, nor will it improve the inhumane conditions in the Libyan detention centers, where rescued persons will be returned.

Similarly, pointing fingers at NGOs that have taken on a larger proportion of the rescues assigned by MRCC while the EU continues to pull back its commitment will only make it harder for NGOs to operate and save lives in the Mediterranean.

Europe needs to come up with real solutions. We need a strong commitment to improving conditions in departure countries, expanding dedicated search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean, and providing dignified, safe and legal passage.

Without these essential ingredients, any proposal will fail to address why people have no choice but to attempt the dangerous passage from Libya to Europe in search of safety and a better existence.

Craig Spencer is a medical doctor and public health professional working onboard a search-and-rescue vessel in the Mediterranean for Doctors Without Borders. He is also the director of global health in emergency medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.