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10 OPINION maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 5 JUNE 2019 Maurice Stierl is a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Warwick IN the same week that more migrant lives were lost at sea, the EU's migration policy in the Mediterranean has been brought to the attention of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It emerged on June 3 that the ICC had received a legal sub- mission calling for the EU and some of its member states to face prosecution for enacting migration policies "intended to sacrifice the lives of mi- grants in distress at sea". The sharply worded submis- sion was brought by interna- tional lawyers who have asked the ICC to open an investiga- tion into EU migration poli- cies and whether a prosecu- tion could be mounted under international law. The lawyers assessed Eu- ropean migration policies in the Mediterranean over re- cent years, paying particular attention to the end of Italy's military-humanitarian res- cue operation Mare Nostrum in 2014 and the subsequent shift to policies focused on deterrence. Their submis- sion claims that this shift to- ward deterring migrants from crossing the Mediterranean to reach the EU resulted in: (i) the deaths by drowning of thousands of migrants, ii) the refoulement of tens of thou- sands of migrants attempting to flee Libya, and iii) complici- ty in the subsequent crimes of deportation, murder, impris- onment, enslavement, torture, rape, persecution and other inhuman acts, taking place in Libyan detention camps and torture houses. According to the ICC sub- mission, these "crimes against humanity" were consciously perpetrated by the EU and member states in the belief that sacrificing migrant lives at sea would stop other mi- grants from making risky voyages across the Mediter- ranean. Sending migrants back to Libya The authors assert that Eu- ropean authorities have "chan- neled their policies" of deter- rence through the so-called Libyan coastguard. Intercep- tions of migrant boats by the Libyan authorities have re- sulted in tens of thousands of people being sent back, or re- fouled, to Libya in recent years – and my research is showing they are increasingly being co- ordinated by Italian and EU authorities from the air. I've have been told by people working for NGO search and research organisations, that a greater presence of European helicopters and aeroplanes patrolling the Mediterranean, for example those of the EU military operation Eunavfor Med, have been observed over the Mediterranean in the last few months. These aircraft have reportedly informed the Libyan coastguard about the whereabouts of migrants boats so that they can inter- cept them. This increased aerial in- volvement of Eunavfor Med aircraft and helicopters stems from a European Council de- cision in late March 2019 to suspend the deployment of the operation's ships, but strengthen surveillance by air and reinforce its support for the Libyan coastguard. The result is that migrants are being forcibly returned to Libya, an active war-zone, where they are held in inhu- mane detention camps. NGOs have documented that many migrants have been exposed to systematic forms of torture, sexual violence, and extortion at these camps. The submission to the ICC highlights clearly what mi- grants and their supporters continue to experience and witness on a daily basis: the violent consequences of Eu- ropean border and security policies that have turned the Mediterranean Sea into the deadliest border in the world. In response to the ICC sub- mission, an EU spokesperson highlighted the EU's respect for human rights and interna- tional and European conven- tions, emphasising that its: "Priority has always been and will continue to be protecting lives and ensuring humane and dignified treatment of every- one throughout the migratory routes". But the reality at sea is a different one – European non-assistance has become routine in the Mediterranean. Spotted from the air On June 2, a shipwreck oc- curred off the coast of Libya leaving dozens of people pre- sumed dead. This will fur- ther raise the Mediterranean death toll that has surpassed 500 fatalities in 2019 already, despite a dramatic decrease in migrant crossings. On the same day, the survivors of an- other Mediterranean voyage testified after disembarking in Genoa, that they had lost trav- el companions at sea – despite the fact that Italian and other authorities had been alerted to their odyssey and were monitoring it. After spotting the migrant boat with about 100 people on board on May 29 and relaying their distress, the civil recon- naissance aircraft Moonbird, run by the NGO Sea-Watch, observed that the Italian navy vessel P490 didn't carry out a rescue operation despite be- ing in the vicinity of the boat in distress. In the evening that day, the Alarm Phone, an activist hotline support- ing migrants in distress at sea, of which I am a member, was also alerted to this boat. Despite raising awareness about the emergency situation in public and directly with Eu- ropean coastguards, it took nearly a day until a rescue op- eration was launched. Because of this delay, the migrants, in- cluding many children, had to endure a second night at sea. The daily dramas in the Med- iterranean are not the result of a lack of European engage- ment at sea. As the submission to the ICC highlights, they are the consequence of European migration policies that have actively "turned the central Mediterranean to the world's deadliest migration route." Decades of research has shown that the unabated criminalisation of migration has led to an increase in mi- grant fatalities around the world as those seeking to es- cape by crossing borders have had to revert to longer, more expensive, and more danger- ous migration routes. Those dying in the Mediterranean today are the inevitable result of Europe "protecting" its bor- ders. theconversation.com EU sued at International Criminal Court over Mediterranean migration policy The submission to the ICC highlights clearly what migrants and their supporters continue to experience and witness on a daily basis: the violent consequences of European border and security policies that have turned the Mediterranean Sea into the deadliest border in the world Migrant boat spotted by Moonbird aircraft on May 29 in the Mediterranean Maurice Stierl

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