The Airborne Annual Report 2023 provides an overview of the human rights violations we have documented in the central Mediterranean.
The report analyzes the year 2023 in terms of migration policy, with a focus on the externalization of European borders and the control over them. Using exemplary cases, the main findings from 2023 are outlined in four chapters: the ongoing and systematic non-assistance by the European Union, especially by Italy and Malta; the rampant strengthening of the EU agency Frontex and its cooperation with Libyan militias; the pullback strategy outsourced by the EU to different Libyan militias, including the so-called Libyan coast guard; and the development of Tunisia as the main country of departure via the central Mediterranean route.
Outcome of spotted boats in distress
- 39 boats with around 2,441 persons were illegally intercepted and returned to unsafe places
- 116 boats with around 8,157 persons arrived in Europe
- The outcomes for 156 boats with around 5,461 persons remain unknown.
Political Analysis: Europe’s Assaults on Human Rights
Neo-fascist Policies in Italy and the EU
Italy, as the main country of arrival for migration to Europe by sea, is presently taking a particularly aggressive anti-migration course. However, this is only possible with the backing of the European Union and the fact that most other member states are turning a blind eye and enjoying not being in Italy’s position.
Refusal to Render Assistance Kills Thousands
The year 2023 also marked the 10th anniversary of the two October 2013 shipwrecks off Lampedusa which caused around 600 deaths. In 2023, ten years later, nothing has changed. In addition to many smaller shipwrecks, partly known, partly invisible, two larger shipwrecks together with around 750 persons losing their lives occurred close to the European mainland due to the devastating non-assistance and misconduct of European actors. On 26 February, at least 94 persons died right off the Calabrian coast of Crotone. On 14 June, around 650 people died in the Ionian Sea, only 50 nm off the Peloponnese city Pylos.
Frontex Complicity in Shipwrecks
With Frontex, the EU created the perfect partner in crime. With its high-tech surveillance, the agency is aware of everything that happens in the central Mediterranean. However, they have no vessels on the surface, so they can’t intervene themselves. Instead, they merely forward information to actors who have a strong interest in preventing people from safely reaching European shores. Consequently, in most cases, these actors decide not to launch rescue operations. For cases in which this leads to shipwrecks such as those off Crotone and Pylos, Frontex and national authorities engage in a well-established theatre: they shift the blame from one to the other, refer to their operational plans and legal frameworks which apparently prevent them from rescuing lives and insist that they would have, but that their hands were tied.
Team Europe: Brokering Deals with Dictators
Another important aspect of the European assaults on human rights besides ignoring persons in distress and hindering civil rescue operations, are the deals with dictators and autocrats which work to prevent people from being able to flee.
In their search for more notorious rulers to broker deals with to stop migration at all costs, Italian and Maltese politicians turned to the powers in eastern Libya. Previously, the EU and Italy had focussed their cooperation on the internationally recognized forces in Tripoli. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and a Maltese delegation with ministers and representatives from the Armed Forces of Malta met with General Khalifa Haftar, who’s son Saddam Haftar leads the armed group Tariq Ben Zeyad (TBZ) Brigade, which is responsible for grave human rights violations and crimes which might amount to crimes against humanity committed against people on the move and Libyans.
Based on the above findings, we call on all involved actors to end violent border practices and respect the human rights of all people, especially those who try to flee. Ending the deaths in the Mediterranean can be politically realized. We need safe and legal passages for everyone.
