Crimes of the European Coast Guard Agency Frontex – Second Report

In its daily work in the Central Mediterranean, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, primarily aims to hinder people from arriving in Europe, no matter the costs. In order to do so, the agency relies on violent militias like the so-called Libyan Coast Guard to intercept people trying to flee. As a result of the agencies’ way of operating, people are forced back to torture, forced labor and exploitation.

This factsheet outlines the way in which Frontex operates in the Central Mediterranean Sea. It provides a selection of representative situations with boats in distress where Frontex was involved in 2022, 2023 and early 2024.1 The factsheet is based on data collected by the Airborne department of Sea-Watch, which carries out monitoring flights in the Central Mediterranean and documents hu- man rights violations. The collected data allows us to draw conclusions about the role of Frontex in pullbacks to Libya.