EU leaders could face ICC over migration

• Published date: 01 December 2022

A new submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) has called for European politicians and officials to be investigated for their alleged involvement in crimes against humanity, because of migration policies implemented in the central Mediterranean, off the coast of North Africa

Those named by lawyers include former European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini; Italy's deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini and former interior minister Marco Minniti; and the current and former prime ministers of Malta, Robert Abela and Joseph Muscat.

Fabrice Leggeri, the former head of EU border agency Frontex, is also named. Mr Leggeri stood down in April amid criticism about the agency's involvement in human rights violations.

The new ICC submission says these "co-perpetrators" should be investigated and that there are "reasonable grounds to believe that the identified individuals can be held criminally responsible".

'Deadliest route'

The central Mediterranean route, which sees people fleeing from situations including dictatorships, conflict and extreme poverty attempt to cross the sea from North Africa to Malta or Italy, has been called the "deadliest migration route in the world" by the United Nations. More than 20,100 men, women and children have died or gone missing there since 2014, while trying to reach Europe.

In 2017, the EU began funding the Libyan coastguard to intercept boats of refugees and migrants. While the EU supplies the Libyan coastguard with vessels and equipment, it also carries out surveillance, flying helicopters, planes and drones to spot refugee boats and transmit that information to aid the interceptions.

More than 108,000 people have been forced back to Libya over the last five years, with many locked up indefinitely in detention centres that...