The NGO vessels that rescue refugees in the Mediterranean may have to rethink their missions if they are forced by the new European agreement on migration to coordinate all of their operations with the Libyan coastguard, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The warning by the humanitarian group came after the European council sealed an agreement on migration that said Europe would “step up” its support of Libya and called on all vessels in the Mediterranean to “not obstruct” Libyan coastguard operations, despite reports that the Libyan officials are committing grave human rights abuses.



Even as the council celebrated what some leaders hailed as a breakthrough deal – despite its notable lack of details – there were reports that 100 migrants, including three babies, had died in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya.

MSF – one of a handful of NGOs that have helped save thousands of stranded migrants at sea – said it was witnessing a worrying shift in the Mediterranean since last week.

The group and others like it usually take direction from Italy’s maritime authorities when they coordinate rescues in international waters. However, since last week, Italy has shifted those responsibilities to the Libyan coastguard, the group said. The Libyan coastguard has an agreement with Italy, which has helped train the force and has been charged with intercepting migrant vessels and taking migrants back to Libya. Once they arrive back in Libya, migrants face inhuman conditions, according to media reports and human rights organisations.

“What is new is the fact that now the Italian and Maltese authorities are washing their hands completely of what is happening at sea,” said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, a humanitarian affairs adviser for MSF.

She said that last weekend, MSF was notified that it was not needed for a rescue involving six or seven dinghies in distress, and that similar notice had been given to another NGO. Once NGOs do rescue migrants, they no longer have any real options of where to take them, given Italy’s new closed-port policy.

“We will try to continue but if continuing means we become agents of implementing their [Libyan] policies and forcing people to go back to Libya, this is not acceptable to us,” said Hadj-Sahraoui.

Matteo Salvini, the far-right Italian interior minister who has taken a hard line against migrants, on Friday repeated his call that all ports in Italy would be closed to NGO ships. Since he became interior minister, Salvini has blocked a number of NGO ships from landing in Italy and has falsely accused them of being funded by George Soros, a common dog-whistle allegation used by the far-right.



Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, a humanitarian affairs adviser for MSF, said NGOs, which some politicians have accused of being “pull factors” for migrants seeking to make the journey across the Mediterranean, have become scapegoats.

“It is easy to say we are the problem. They say we need to abide by the law, which is something we have always done,” she said.

NGOs such as MSF are to meet with authorities, she added.