Libyan militias have increased attacks on migrants and humanitarian workers in the central Mediterranean in recent years, according to a new report by search-and-rescue NGO Sea-Watch.
The report, published Tuesday, documented 60 violent incidents since 2016 by Libyan militias including the Libyan Coast Guard. At least 54 of the violent incidents occurred in international waters within the Maltese or Libyan search-and-rescue zones, according to Sea-Watch.
Recorded incidents have climbed sharply in recent years, from just three in 2016 to 11 in both 2023 and 2024, with nine more identified in the first nine months of 2025. The number of unreported cases is estimated to be substantially higher, the NGO warned.
The findings raise fresh questions about Brussels’ controversial funding and cooperation on migrant control with the North African country ahead of meetings between EU officials and the rivalrous east- and west-Libyan delegations in Warsaw and Brussels this week.
Some EU lawmakers are urging the European Commission to cut its partnership with Tripoli altogether. In a letter addressed to the commissioners for migration and the Mediterranean, seen by POLITICO on Monday, a group of MEPs cite “gross human rights violations including human trafficking, forced labor, starvation, sexual violence and torture” by Libyan authorities.
EU support has “emboldened [the Libyan Coast Guard] to commit further abuses,” the letter states, calling for an immediate halt to EU funding for Libyan security forces and the redirection of support toward civil society and U.N. actors.
The lawmakers’ appeal follows a joint plea from multiple NGOs in September for Brussels to suspend ties after several attacks at sea.
EU officials have defended cooperation with Libyan authorities as “necessary” to save lives at sea, and the Commission has dismissed calls to end engagement with the North African country.
Libya — a major transit hub for migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia — has been politically fractured since ruler Moammar Gadhafi was deposed in 2011. The country is largely ruled by two factions: a U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli, in western Libya, and a separate Russia-aligned government in Benghazi in the east.
The Libyan Coast Guard is nominally under the authority of the Tripoli-based government, but in practice operates through a loose network of militias with little central control, some of which have been repeatedly accused of human trafficking, smuggling and violent abuses at sea.
On Sunday, the maritime emergency NGO Alarmphone reported that a boat carrying over 100 people had come under fire in Malta’s search-and-rescue zone, with passengers claiming two deaths and attacks by the Libyan Coast Guard. On Monday, Malta’s armed forces said it could neither confirm nor deny the shooting, noting that a monitored fishing vessel showed no signs of distress.
In August, search-and-rescue vessel the Ocean Viking was fired on by a Libyan patrol boat for 20 minutes, damaging the ship’s bridge and rescue equipment. A month later, another Libyan vessel opened fire on the Sea-Watch 5 during a rescue operation. In both incidents, the patrol boats used by the Libyan Coast Guard had been donated by Italy under the EU-funded SIBMMIL migration management program.
Sea-Watch said that since 2016 more than 169,000 people have been intercepted at sea and forcibly returned to Libya, where the U.N. has documented systematic detention, abuse and torture. “Each of these interceptions constitutes a violation of fundamental rights and is embedded in a system that amounts to crimes against humanity,” the report said.
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