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European UnionCooperation on migration with the fragmented North African nation Libya It is again in the news after human rights lawyers filed the names of about 120 European leaders, including the French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel – At the International Criminal Court, accused of committing crimes against humanity with the handling of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
The group, led by lawyers Omar Schatz and Juan Branco, filed a 700-page legal brief on Thursday. The Associated Press has obtained a copy of the brief.
Their case is based on a six-year investigation, interviews with more than 70 senior European officials, minutes of high-level European Council meetings and other confidential documents. This follows a previous request ICCThe Prosecutor’s Office argued for investigating European authorities for migration policies that have led to the interception, detention, torture, killing and drowning of thousands of people trying to reach European shores.
That request, which was filed in 2019 and accepted as part of the ICC’s Libya investigation in 2020, did not name any specific suspects.
Now, lawyers say they have identified dozens of European individuals, from high-level heads of state to low-level bureaucrats, as “accomplices” with Libyan suspects in the deaths of 25,000 asylum seekers and the ill-treatment of some 150,000 survivors who were “abducted and forcibly transferred to Libya, where they were detained, tortured, They were raped and enslaved.”
European leaders and officials were called by name
“We did the work of the prosecutor’s office, we managed to get inside this apparatus of power and deconstruct it to see which offices, which ministries and which individuals (are responsible),” Schatz said. “We feel confident in saying that at least 122 are criminally liable.”
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan stepped down earlier this year pending the outcome of the sexual misconduct investigation against him.
The lawyers published an online database with parts of their case and their “suspect list”, which includes the name of each of the 122 individuals, their roles and why they believe that person to be liable. These include NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who was then Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the then-former President of the European Council, former European foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini and former Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri, to cite a few.
Schatz and Branco are not alone in urging the ICC to investigate abuses against migrants in Libya and the Mediterranean. In 2023, a UN-backed investigation also concluded that EU support to Libyan forces contributed to crimes against migrants and called on EU officials to review their policies with Libya.
“ICC law was born out of European crimes but has until now only applied to crimes committed outside Europe,” Schatz told The Associated Press. “Our request is simple: to apply the law impartially, also to European citizens.”
EU says cooperation with Libya on migration still a priority
Despite repeated calls from human rights experts for Europe to refrain from supporting Libyan forces in preventing migrants from crossing the Mediterranean Sea, European officials are determined to continue doing so.
Libya plunged into chaos in 2011 after a NATO-backed rebellion led to the assassination of longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi. In the chaos that followed, the country was divided, with rival administrations in the East and West supported by rogue militias and foreign governments. In recent months, there has been an increase in the departure of migrants from eastern Libya towards Greece, which European authorities are trying to address.
The EU says it is working with Libyan authorities “to protect migrants and refugees” in Libya, “taking action to reduce irregular departures through border management and anti-smuggling and human trafficking.”
It has repeatedly defended its cooperation with Libya and its migration policy and blamed the deaths of migrants on smugglers and human traffickers who profit from their suffering.
“The situation in Libya is grave,” EU Commission spokesman Marcus Lammert told journalists last week. “We will continue our engagement with all the artists involved.”
Rival Libyan officials visit EU border agency
Just yesterday, the EU hosted both eastern and western Libyan officials for a technical visit to the headquarters of the bloc’s border and coast guard agency in Warsaw. The visit was notable for bringing both sides of Libya’s rival governments into the same room.
“The atmosphere was open and constructive, and the Libyan side showed genuine curiosity about how Frontex and the EU work,” Frontex spokesman Chris Borowski told the AP in writing. “This was a good first step toward building mutual understanding.”
The trip was criticized by human rights groups, including NGOs that protect migrants in the Mediterranean. Over the past few months, Libyan patrols have been caught on camera in several incidents of aggression, including firing on both rescue ships and migrants.
“With the support of the European Union and its member states, Libyan militias have transformed into a brutal border force that operates with aggression and impunity at sea,” said a statement issued this week by Alarm Phone, a network of activists that operates a hotline for migrants in crisis.
Asked last week about recent incidents at sea and Frontex’s scheduled visit to Libya, EU Commission spokesman Lammert stressed that border cooperation with Libya “will be in line with human rights standards.”
There was no immediate reaction to the ICC filing.
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AP journalist Samuel McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration