Humanitarian NGOs criticize EU aerial surveillance of migrants

Humanitarian NGOs accused the EU on Thursday of using its reconnaissance planes in the Mediterranean to locate migrants and warn Libya to intercept them, preventing aid ships from rescuing people in distress.

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The practice represents a violation of international law and human rights of migrants, who are returned to dangerous detention camps in Libya, said four European humanitarian NGOs in a report released Thursday.

" Mass Death "

These NGOs - Alarm Phone, Borderline-Europe, Mediterranea Saving Humans and Sea-Watch - have assured that " tens of thousands " of migrants have thus been returned to Libya, and prevented from reaching Europe. The strategy has also resulted in shipwrecks and " mass deaths ", accuse NGOs, saying that European countries have essentially shirked their duty to rescue migrants at sea in order to prevent them from reaching their shores by airplanes. from Frontex, the European border control agency.

Frontex uses drones and planes " to establish the presence of boats in distress and their position but without launching rescue operations ", according to the NGOs. If such boats are spotted in the area patrolled by Libya, the agency only alerts the Tripoli coastguards, even if humanitarian NGO ships or cargo ships in the area " could help more quickly and more appropriate, "say these organizations.

A Frontex spokesperson said the claims were " totally untrue, " adding that the agency has helped save more than 330,000 people in recent years. He also denied the agency's use of drones. Frontex clarified that under international law, it was up to the " competent rescue center " to decide which boats, in which areas, would be called upon to participate in the rescue.

But NGOs say EU planes " spot migrant boats in distress and only contact Libyan authorities to de facto prevent other boats from rescuing migrants and disembarking survivors in a safe port ", outside of Libyan territory.

After a forced break of two months in Italian ports, where they had been immobilized by the authorities for " technical reasons ", two humanitarian ships set sail at the beginning of June to patrol the central Mediterranean. With the arrival of summer and better sailing conditions, attempts to cross this area from Libya could increase in the coming weeks.

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