Governing the Central Mediterranean through Indirect Rule: Tracing the Effects of the Recognition of Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Tripoli

Abstract

The gradual empowerment of the Libyan Coast Guard through EU training and funding has introduced them as a new actor in the Central Mediterranean amongst other civil and military actors intervening to prevent loss of life at sea. This article examines the contested recognition of the authority of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Tripoli over the newly formalized Libyan Search and Rescue Region. It argues that the recognition of the Libyan coordination authority made by the International Maritime Organisation, has changed the way the international waters separating Libya and Europe are governed. Through the close analysis of three ethnographic vignettes depicting instances of rescue of migrants by an NGO vessel, this article illustrates how the Italian authorities are able to exercise control over this vast area indirectly via the formalization of the Libyan authority and concomitantly imped the operations of civil rescue NGO boats in the zone. This formalization enables Italian authorities (and their EU counterparts) to establish a form of indirect governance in this liminal border zone that clashes with other preceding legal orders which regulate distress cases at sea, i.e. international maritime law.

Over Land and Sea: NGOs/CSOs and EU Border Externalisation Along the Central Mediterranean Route

“…Meanwhile, the Libyan Coast Guard has been increasingly active in patrolling international waters and carrying out interceptions disguised as SAR operations (Moreno-Lax 2018). This resulted in the forced return of a growing number of people to Libya, especially after Libya declared its SAR region in 2018, despite its MRCC still not being in line with the required international standards (Santer 2019). Libyan authorities also keep harassing and threatening NGO vessels that lawfully cruise its purported SAR region (Sanderson 2021).…”

Breaking the legal link but not the law? The externalization of EU migration control through orchestration in the Central Mediterranean

“…This formalization was necessary as it defines and allocates the competence of different national SAR regions, allowing Libya to fulfill its sovereign SAR obligations. In June 2018, the IMO accepted the establishment of a Libyan JRCC and published relevant information about it in its Global Integrated Shipping Information System, including the geographical coordinates of the Libyan SAR region (IMO, 2019;Santer, 2019).…”