The European Commission has denied the presence of the EU military operation called ‘Irini’ in the Central Mediterranean in the area where ‘main migratory routes are running’, diplomatic spokesperson Peter Stano told the press on Monday (13 March).
Stano was commenting on whether Irini vessels were close to where a boat carrying migrants sank in international waters at roughly 100 miles from the Libyan port of Benghazi on Sunday.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Italian Coast Guard saved 17 people while roughly 30 died. The first distress alerts were received by Italian, Libyan, and Maltese authorities more than 24 hours before.
Operation Irini is an EU initiative backed by member states in the central Mediterranean designed to intercept boats involved in illegal weapons trafficking and petrol boats from Libya, as well as tackle human trafficking and train the Libyan coast guard.
The Irini operation is concentrated in international waters and cannot operate in territorial waters, which are those up to 12 miles from a countries’ coasts.
“Operation Irini is patrolling only in a specified area which was determined by the agreement of all the member states, and this area is not where the main migratory routes are running through,” Peter Stano, spokesperson for the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell, said at a press conference on Monday.
EUNAVFOR MED Op Irini's 'Area of Operations' (AOO) is limited southbound by Libyan territorial waters (12nm). Tobruk is therefore a pretty safe bet for route-smart LNA-bound maritime arms shipments, but the land/air bridge via Egypt will always be preferable. #Libya pic.twitter.com/hfx0n3VGzZ
— Libya Monitoring ?? (@Libya_OSINT) July 28, 2020
“If a vessel of Operation Irini is close, or at the closest one, to an unfolding tragedy, of course, they have the obligation to intervene as any other vessel,” the spokesperson added.
On the question of whether the vessels of the Irini operation where present in the area close to the boat in distress 24 hours before the tragedy, Stano said that the Commission is unable to reply, since it is an operational question for those responsible for the Irini operation.
EURACTIV asked the press spokesperson for Irini about the location of their vessels but had not received a reply at the time of publication.
Irini as a ‘pull factor’
As in the debate on NGOs, Italian politicians have debated whether Irini serves as a ‘pull factor’ for migrants on the route.
If there is evidence that “the naval deployment [of Irini] is having a pull factor of migratory flows […] countries may decide to discontinue activities,” an Italian parliament document stated.
The reconstruction of the events
The NGO Alarm Phone, a hotline support for people in distress at sea, stated that they sent a first mayday signal to the Maritime Coordination Centre (MRCC) of Libya, Italy and Malta about a boat with 47 people onboard in distress in international waters with geolocalisation coordinates on Saturday at 02.28 CET.
Alarm Phone wrote in a press release that at 3.01 they asked the MRCC to ensure that the Crude Oil vessel Amax Avenue was close to the boat in distress, in order to intervene. But the vessels did not stop.
Nine hours later, the Sea Watch NGO plane operating in the Mediterranean intercepted the boat, showing the live streaming. They sent another mayday to boats in the nearby area.
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? 47 Persone a rischio
L'imbarcazione, segnalata da @Alarm_Phone, è a 113 miglia NW Bengasi, è alla deriva, col motore in avaria, in balia delle onde?. Tanker ?#Basilis_L ?? sulla scena.
Il video del velivolo ?️ #Seabird2 #SeaWatch
?OSINT via @RadioRadicale
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?
? pic.twitter.com/Pk56AGpxvM
— Sergio Scandura (@scandura) March 11, 2023
A merchant boat called BASILIS L went close to the boat in distress, however, due to weather conditions it could not start a rescue operation.
A Sea Watch report on the shipwreck seen by EURACTIV, states that BASILIS L tried to coordinate with Libyan authorities, which first said they would intervene, but eventually Benghazi did not send any boats.
The NGO published a recorded call with the Rome MRCC to communicate at 5.02 pm on Saturday (11 March) that Benghazi was not replying to the distress call of the boat and Italy should intervene.
At 5.02 pm, we call #Rome again and ask who is now taking responsibility for the rescue. We do not get an answer; the Italian rescue coordination center hangs up. At this point, 47 people are in immediate danger of drowning.
(7/8) pic.twitter.com/pVG2xKoKKi
— Sea-Watch International (@seawatch_intl) March 13, 2023
Since January, Italy has provided Libya with EU-funded boats to intercept migrants and bring them back to Libya. The deal reinforced the memorandum of understanding between Libya and Italy, which already provides financial support for the North African country to contain migration flows.
Alarm Phone said that their last communication with the boat was on Sunday at 06.50. Afterwards, the NGO said the boat capitalised.
The Italian Coast Guard started the search and rescue (SAR) operation on Sunday morning (12 March), when Libyan officials said they could intervene due to lack of vessels, the Italian Coast Guard wrote in a press release on Sunday (12 March).
Italy’s agreement with Libya has been heavily criticised and documented by NGOs, journalists and intergovernmental organisations.
In a letter to Italian interior minister Matteo Piantedosi, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, warned that there was “evidence documenting grave human rights violations faced by refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants”.
Council of Europe slams Italy on migration law
The Council of Europe has urged Italy to scrap a decree seeking to regulate NGO migrant rescue operations at sea, describing it as a breach of international law.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald and Benjamin Fox]
Source: euractiv.com
