University of Oxford | 18.04.2018
PART I
Guest post by Paolo Cuttitta, Researcher at the Amsterdam Centre for Migration and Refugee Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His most recent articles focus on humanitarianism and human rights, as well as on search and rescue NGOs, at the Central Mediterranean EU border.
The vessel Open Arms of the NGO Proactiva Open Arms, which has been engaged in search and rescue (SAR) operations in the Southern Central Mediterranean since 2016, was involved in an incident with the Italian and Libyan authorities on 15 March 2018. The ship was instructed by the Italian MRCC (the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, managed by the Italian Coast Guard), to reach a vessel in distress in international waters. However, after its speedboats reached the migrant boat and started taking people on board, the Open Arms was informed by the Italian MRCC that the responsibility for coordinating the rescue lay with the Libyan authorities from that moment on. When the Libyan Coast Guard arrived, it requested the Open Arms to hand them over the migrants. The NGO crew refused, because Libyan ports are no ‘places of safety’ where rescued people can be brought according to international law. Indeed, Libya is not safe for migrants, as innumerable reports (e.g. from the United Nations and Amnesty International, to cite but two among the most recent ones) and the judgment of an Italian court have documented. After a long back-and-forth, the Libyans gave up their demand.