300 kilometers separate Libya from the island of Lampedusa and Europe. A perilous crossing of the Mediterranean, which tens of thousands of migrants attempt every year. Since 2017, when they are spotted at sea, some of them have been repatriated to Libya, where they can suffer torture, rape and illegal detention. Abuses regularly denounced by the United Nations.
The European Union has delegated responsibility for rescues at sea in a large area in the Mediterranean to Libya, and is providing Tripoli with financial and operational support. According to the images and documents collected by Le Monde, this does not prevent the Libyan coast guard from regularly breaking basic rules of international law, or even being guilty of serious violence.
Above all, the video survey of the World reveals that, despite its official rhetoric, the European border guard agency Frontex appears to be encouraging the repatriation of migrants to Libya, rather than to European coasts. Frontex drone flight data shows how the European agency’s activity is focused on the area where migrants, once detected, are repatriated to Libya. Between the 1er June and July 31, 2021, the Frontex drone spent 86% of its operational flight time in this area. Over the same period, barely more than half of the distress situations identified by the NGO Alarm Phone were recorded there.