---
title: "Open letter asking the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to deregister the Libyan SAR zone"
slug: "open-letter-asking-the-international-maritime-organization-imo-to-deregister-the-libyan-sar-zone"
post_type: "post"
published_at: "2020-06-29T16:34:33+01:00"
modified_at: "2022-10-04T16:22:35+01:00"
author: "CIHRS"
url: "https://cihrs.org/open-letter-asking-the-international-maritime-organization-imo-to-deregister-the-libyan-sar-zone/?lang=en"
category:
- "Arab Countries"
- "International Advocacy Program"
causes_and_rights:
- "Refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers."
country:
- "Libya"
field:
- "Regional and International Protection and Advocacy"
interest:
- "Statements and Positions"
protection_and_advocacy:
- "United Nations Mechanisms"
---
# Open letter asking the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to deregister the Libyan SAR zone
On Monday, June 20, 2020, the civil liberties organisation Statewatch delivered an open letter with hundreds of signatories, among them the Cairo Center for Human Rights Studies. Addressed to Mr Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of International Maritime Organization (IMO), the letter called on him to revoke the Libyan maritime search and rescue (SAR) zone in order to prevent the so-called Libyan Coast Guard from undertaking 'pull-backs' of migrants to Libya, where they face violence, abuse and mistreatment.
Statewatch c/o MDR 88 Fleet Street London EC4Y 1DH office@statewatch.org Secretary General Kitack Lim International Maritime Organization 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR
29 June 2020
**Open letter asking the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to deregister the Libyan SAR zone**
Dear Secretary General Kitack Lim,
After Libya and Malta signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 28 May 2020 to provide a bilateral legal basis for unlawful practices, it is urgent for the IMO, as the UN maritime authority, to remove the Libyan SAR zone from official records. Italy also renewed its MoU with Libya in February 2020, despite acknowledging that it was problematic from a human rights perspective. This appeal builds on a submission to the IMO from Italian parties on 31 March 2020 for which the signatories are still awaiting a reply.[\[1\]](#_ftn1) The complaint raises relevant and contentious points about the underlying irregularityof the Libyan declaration of a SAR zone in December 2017. It highlights the effects that this has had regarding unethical state practices in the Mediterranean Sea. Such practices amount to human rights violations, if not state crimes, which undermine the law of the sea as a universal insurance mechanism for people who are at sea and seafarers in general, as well as result in *refoulements* to Libya that are illegal under international law. Policies against so-called irregular migration are being used to dismantle international legal instruments and conventions in pursuit of strategic policy goals (nobody must enter the EU irregularly). This involves using pseudo-legal measures like MoUs to undermine normative frameworks enshrined in hierarchically prevalent national constitutions, international law and human rights conventions.
In concrete terms, apart from the issues raised in the March submission, this request to strike off the Libyan SAR zone from international records relies on the following elements:
1\) Libya is unsafe and does not offer any safe ports in which to disembark migrants, considering the civil war that is underway and well-documented abuses and violence to which migrant detainees are subjected. This should rule out the possibility of it being assigned a SAR zone.
2\) The Libyan Coast Guard is notoriously inadequate for the tasks assigned to it, in material and ethical terms. The Libyan MRCC often fails to answer or respond to distress calls; it is coordinated by Italian, Maltese (as has recently emerged) and EU assets; its membership includes people who have been identified as, or have links with, traffickers; ill-treatment of migrants during SAR operations and after “pull-backs” have been reported.
3\) Even when the Libyan Coast Guard enacts successful rescue operations, they amount to catching fugitives from detention and mistreatment centres, and rescued people are returned to places in which they experience torture and inhuman and degrading treatment. National and international courts have repeatedly certified this, and the ICC is conducting an investigation for crimes against humanity regarding the treatment of migrants in Libya. As part of the United Nations system, the IMO can consult statements by UNHCR, UN special rapporteurs on human rights and on migrants’ rights, IOM and the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights on these points.They consistently argue that migrants must not disembark in Libya.
4\) The IMO declaratory procedure allows states to claim a SAR zone unless other state parties object.This system has been used opportunistically to create a fictional account that allows several states, and the EU, to relinquish their duties under the law of the sea, international, refugee and human rights law. This undermines fundamental principles like the right to life and states’ duty to assist rescues (rather than delaying and obstructing them using any available pretext), thereby jeopardising maritime safety. Captains risk suffering negative effects from acting as is prescribed by the law of the sea. They also run the risk of being ordered by MRCCs to deliver people to places where they are likely to be abused. Although they should technically disobey, they face detrimental consequences for doing so.
5\) The Libyan SAR zone is being used to justify the criminalisation of NGOs that have taken on a SAR role after the EU relinquished this function and pressured member states that were conducting it to stop, because of migration policy considerations. Beyond legal and ethical issues concerning the regularity of the SAR zone in question, its use to assert a systematic misreading of the law of the sea to benefit EU states and policies entails serial irregularities that should concern the IMO. In concrete terms, SAR zones are not meant to be exclusive, but Italy and Malta are using Libyan authority as a pretext to omit or delay rescues of vessels in distress beyond their own territorial waters, sometimes resulting in deaths. Coast guard authorities from Italy to Malta (and Greece in the Aegean) are often failing to intervene or, notably in recent weeks in Malta and Greece, they have intimidated people and/or sabotaged vessels carrying migrants, also enacting pushbacks from their territorial waters towards Libya and Turkey. The people attempting irregular border crossings may often be refugees, but they must be prevented from accessing relevant procedures, from national and EU institutional viewpoints. The nationality of rescue crews should be irrelevant to the duty to ensure the swift completion of rescue operations. However, nationality is being used as a pretext to keep people who are rescued and the crews saving them at sea for long periods, as a form of punishment and to waste the funds collected by civil society to counteract wilful shortcomings in states’ SAR provision. Ships are being confiscated on spurious grounds because they may save people from drowning, and private ships are being hired to enact refoulements by proxy. The Covid-19 crisis appears to have emboldened state parties, which are now using ships as sites to keep people in quarantine at sea. States are not supposed to instrumentally work to make sea crossings more deadly in order to achieve their strategic migration policy objectives.
For the above reasons, and because we believe that the IMO does not appreciate states using its procedures instrumentally to undermine the law of the sea, maritime safety, human rights and international law, the undersigned ask that formal recognition of the Libyan SAR zone be revoked. This would be an important step towards fulfilling the IMO’s function to uphold the SOLAS, SAR and UNCLOS conventions, because the EU and its states appear to consciously and insistently work to dismantle the law of the sea in pursuit of their migration policy goals. In the central Mediterranean, it appears obvious that the IMO’s recognition of the Libyan SAR zone is used instrumentally for this end. We are aware that IMO does not wish to be pulled into political disputes but feel that this issue falls squarely within its remit as the guardian of the law of the sea at a global level, which is endangered by policies against human mobility.
Yours sincerely,
The undersigned
**Groups, associations and networks**
1. Statewatch
2. OsservatorioSolidarietàdella Carta di Milano
3. Pressenza international press agency
4. ComitatoVerità e Giustizia per iNuoviDesaparecidos del Mediterraneo
5. ReteAntirazzistaCatanese
6. AssociazioneStudiGiuridicisull’Immigrazione (ASGI)
7. Fondazione E’ stato il vento-Per Riace
8. borderlinesicilia
9. LasciateciEntrare
10. Dossier Libia
11. Forum per Cambiarel’OrdinedelleCose
12. AssociazioneLaudatoSì
13. A BuonDirittoonlus
14. Borderline-europe
15. Carovanemigranti
16. ADIF - AssociazioneDiritti e Frontiere
17. CADI - ComitatoAntirazzista Durban Italia
18. CIAC - Centro ImmigrazioneAsilo e Cooperazione
19. Transbalkanskasolidarnost - Transbalkan Solidarity
20. Open Arms
21. Open Arms Italia
22. Sea-Watch e.V.
23. Kopin, Malta
24. Migreurop
25. Gisti (Groupe d'information et de soutien des immigrés), France
26. Welcome! Initiative, Croatia
27. Border Crossing Spielfeld, Austria
28. Spark15, Malta
29. aditus foundation, Malta
30. SOS Malta
31. ERIM, European Irregularized Migration Regime research group, (Croatia - Serbia -
32. Slovenia)
33. African Media Association Malta
34. Institute of Race Relations (IRR)
35. Are You Syrious?
36. Push-Back Map collective
37. VluchtelingenwerkVlaanderen
38. Integra Foundation (NGO) Malta
39. iuventa 10
40. CISS/CooperazioneInternazionale Sud Sud, Palermo, Italy
41. Forum Antirazzista Palermo, Palermo, Italy
42. EMERGENCY ONG ONLUS
43. Mediterranea Saving Humans
44. Saving Humans USA
45. PRO ASYL
46. MovimentoCaschi Bianchi
47. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
48. Belaady Organization for Human Rights (Libya)
49. Youth Gathering for Tawergha (Libya)
50. Independent Organisation for Human Rights (Libya)
51. Aman Organization Against Discrimination (Libya)
52. Libyan Crimes Watch
53. Libyan Organization for Legal Aid
54. Progetto Melting Pot Europa
55. Casa Memoria Giuseppe e Felicia Impastato
56. Alarm Phone
57. Associazione SOS DirittiVenezia
58. All Included Amsterdam
59. Kritnet (NetzwerkKritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung)
60. Forum Tunisien pour les droits Économiques et Sociaux (FTDES)
61. Solidarité sans Frontiêres (Berne/Switzerland)
62. Rete InDifesa Di
63. CILIP, Institut fur Bürgerrechte&öffentlicheSicherheite.V.
64. Rima, Malta
65. Welcome to Europe network
66. FOCSIV - FederazionidegliOrganismiCristianiServizioInternazionaleVolontario
67. GiuristiDemocratici
68. Un Ponte Per
69. Associazione "Basta torture allefrontiere"
70. **Individuals**
71. MalinBjörk, MEP (GUE/NGL), Sweden
72. Clare Daly MEP (GUE/NGL), Ireland
73. Mick Wallace MEP (GUE/NGL), Ireland
74. Miguel Urbán Crespo MEP (GUE/NGL), Spain
75. Kostas Arvanitis, MEP (GUE/NGL), Greece
76. PernandoBarrena MEP (GUE/NGL), Spain
77. DietmarKöster MEP (S&D), Germany
78. Cornelia Ernst MEP (GUE/NGL), Germany
79. Domènec Ruiz Devesa MEP (S&D), Spain
80. TinekeStrik MEP, Groenlinks (Greens/EFA), Netherlands
81. Pietro Bartolo MEP (S&D), Italy
82. PierfrancescoMajorino MEP (S&D), Italy
83. Dr. Milan Brglez MEP (S&D), Slovenia
84. Ann Singleton, Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol, Co-Chair Statewatch Trustees
85. Giovanna Procacci, president OsservatorioSolidarietà
86. Daniela DeBono, Senior Lecturer, University of Malta; Assoc. Prof., Malmö University (on
87. leave)
88. Prof. Bridget Anderson, Director of Migrations Mobility Bristol (MMB)
89. Paola Regina, international lawyer
90. Dr. Victoria Canning, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Bristol
91. Flore Murard-Yovanovitch, author, journalist
92. Tony Bunyan, Director of Statewatch
93. Guido Viale, sociologist
94. Dr. YashaMaccanico, Statewatch, University of Bristol School for Policy Studies, MMB
95. Dr. Madge Dresser, Honorary Professor, Department of Historical Studies, University of
96. Bristol
97. Anna Polo, editor of Pressenza Italia
98. Stefano Pasta, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Catholic University of Milan
99. Mariana Gkliati, University of Leiden, Law
100. Frances Webber, retired immigration lawyer, author, Institute of Race Relations
101. Daniela Padoan, author, president AssociazioneLaudato Si’
102. Filippo Furri, Researcher of Anthropology, member of Migreurop
103. Diego Acosta Arcarazo, Professor in European and Migration Law, University of Bristol
104. Emilio de Capitani, former secretary of the LIBE Committee (EP), executive director FREE
105. group
106. Prof. Salvatore Palidda, Università di Genova
107. Marcello Maneri, Università Bicocca - Milano
108. Alessandra Mecozzi, Rete - In Difesa Di
109. Angelo Baracca, Professore a riposo, Università di Firenze
110. Laura Marcheselli, Firenze
111. Alistair Drummond Petrie, musician, Castel Volturno
112. Emilio Drudi, journalist, ComitatoNuoviDesaparecidos
113. Arturo Salerni, lawyer, President of ComitatoNuoviDesaparecidos
114. Stefano Greco, lawyer
115. Marco Antonio Pirrone, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Università di Palermo
116. AsjaKorbar, translator, activist, Croatia
117. Veronica Rasoli, lawyer, expert in penal law
118. Manfred Bergmann, CADI, ComitatoAntirazzista Durban Italia
119. Chiara Marchetti, Universities of Milano and Parma
120. Luca Ciabarri, Università di Milano
121. Barbara Pinelli, Università di Roma Tre
122. Jean-Pierre Cassarino, Collegio d'Europa
123. Elena Fontanari, Università di Milano
124. Emanuela Dal Zotto, Università di Pavia
125. Martina Tazzioli, Goldsmiths University of London
126. Jean-Paul De Lucca, Senior Lecturer in Political and Legal Philosophy, University of Malta
127. Eline Wærp, University of Malmö
128. Dr Giacomo Orsini, Université Catholique de Louvain
129. Barbara Sorgoni, Università di Torino
130. Sofia Venturoli, Università di Torino
131. Dr. AntonijaPetričušić, University of Zagreb, Law, Croatia
132. MarijanaHameršak, Senior Research Associate, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore
133. Research, Zagreb
134. Isabelle Johansson, Lund University, Kristianstad University
135. Luigi Achilli, European University Institute, Italy
136. Paola Sacchi, Università di Torino
137. Céline Cantat, Research Fellow, Sciences Po, Paris
138. Chris Jones, Project Director, Statewatch
139. Sara Pozzi, Phd Candidate, University of Manchester
140. Filippo Miraglia, ARCI, Italy
141. Amandine Bach, Policy Adviser, GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament
142. Barbara Spinelli, journalist, former MEP, Italy
143. Alessandra Ballerini, lawyer and human rights defender, Genova
144. MarikaSurace, lawyer, foro di Milano, human rights defender
145. Dr Ahmed ZanyaBugre, Foundation for Shelter and Support to Migrants, Malta
146. Dr Colin Calleja, Office of the Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Malta
147. Dr Angele Deguara, Junior College, University of Malta
148. Dr Lidia Demontis, Maritime Logistics, Malta
149. Erica Schembri, EFL/ESP teacher, MovimentGraffitti member, Malta
150. Dr Lena Karamanidou, Research Fellow, Glasgow Caledonian University
151. Stefano Galieni, President ADIF (AssociazioneDiritti e Frontiere)
152. Maurizio Acerbo, National Secretary PRC-S.E.
153. Paul Galea, teacher, secretary Spark 15
154. BeritAasen, senior researcher, OsloMet University, Oslo, Norway
155. Marie Louise Seeberg, Research professor, Oslo Metropolitan University
156. Natalia Padrón, Vice President of African Media Association Malta
157. Nello Scavo, journalist, Avvenire
158. Carola Rackete, Master Mariner
159. Leila Giannetto, researcher, FIERI, Torino
160. Marta Esperti, PhD Candidate at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Lecturer at Université de
161. Lille
162. Lorenzo Vianelli, Université du Luxembourg
163. Silvia Di Meo, PhD candidate Università di Genova
164. Luca Masera, professor of Penal Law, UniversitàdegliStudi di Brescia
165. Daniel Gyollai, Glasgow CaledonianUniversity
166. Professor Elspeth Guild, Queen Mary University of London
167. DilekGürsel, GIZ, Sciences Po, Germa
168. Ester Russo - Sicilia
169. SonerBarthoma, Uppsala University, Sweden
170. Maria Pisani, University of Malta
171. Lorenzo Pezzani, Goldsmiths, University of London
172. Anna Zinnanti, Sicilia
173. EleonoreKofman, Professor, Middlesex University London
174. Emanuela Roman, Researcher, FIERI, Torino, Italy
175. Pasqua de Candia, CISS ONG, Palermo Italy
176. Dr John R Campbell, School of Oriental & African Studies, London
177. DrAgnieszkaKubal, Lecturer, University College London, United Kingdom
178. Dr Annalisa Meloni, University of East London
179. Dr Liam Thornton, University College Dublin
180. MasoNotarianni, president Arci Milano, Italy
181. FaustaFerruzza, Palermo, Italy
182. Elena Consiglio, University of Palermo, Italy
183. DrMariagiuliaGiuffré, Edge Hill University, UK
184. Olga Kravets, documentary photographer and filmmaker
185. Muhammad al-Kashef - Consultant researcher and advocate
186. Alan Desmond, Leicester Law School
187. Maria Valeria Ferruzza, Napoli, Italy
188. Daniele Biella, journalist, teacher in the project ‘Con AltriOcchi’
189. Emilia Ferruzza - Padova - Italy
190. Dott. Francesco M.G. Ferruzza- Palermo - Italy
191. Niels W. Frenzen, Clinical Professor of Law, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
192. USA
193. ThekliAnastasiou, University of Sheffield
194. Omer Shatz, international lawyer, Lecturer in International Law, Sciences Po, Paris
195. Juan Branco, international lawyer
196. Emilie McDonnell, DPhil in Law candidate, University of Oxford
197. DilettaAgresta, ASGI, Sciabaca&Oruka
198. SílviaMorgades-Gil, Lecturer in International Law, UPF, Barcelona.
199. Dr Maurice Stierl, University of Warwick, UK
200. Dr Chiara Denaro, University of Trento, Italy
201. Dr. Gerda Heck, Assistant Professor, American University in Cairo, Egypt
202. Sebastian Benedikt, PhD Candidate University of Göttingen, Germany
203. Paolo Cuttitta, IDPS, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord
204. Dr. Thomas Müller, Aachen, Germany
205. Sophie Hinger, UniversitätOsnabrück, Germany
206. Suzie Crowter, University of Bristol
207. Samir Sweida-Metwally, Doctoral Researcher, University of Bristol
208. KarwanShareef, PhD candidate, School of Law, University of Bristol
209. Dr Anastasia Tataryn, University of Waterloo Canada
210. Professor HarizHalilovich, ARC Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, Global,
211. Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne
212. Julia O’Connell Davidson, Professor in Marvic Social Research, University of Bristol
213. Monique Agius, Malta
214. Dr. Jana Häberlein, Basel
215. Daniel Bendix, Professor of Global Development, Friedensau Adventist University, Germany
216. Mark Micallef, Malta
217. Sonia Camilleri. Malta
218. Ritianne Ellul, Malta
219. Monica Ardemagni,
220. Franca Rovigatti, Roma
221. Maria Margherita Gaetani di Laurenzana
222. Michael Grech
223. DavideCarnemolla, Welcome to Europe network, Italy
224. Francesca Cerocchi, Roma
225. Dr Colin Calleja, Dean, Faculty of Education University of Malta. Department of Inclusion
226. and Access to Learning, Faculty of Education University of Malta
227. Bernard Cauchi, St Albert College, Valletta
228. Ruth Cauchi, Malta
229. MarvicFrancalanza, UWC Malta Alumni Association
230. CharlotCassar, Malta
231. Dr. Michael Siassi, Hamburg, Germany
232. Sig.ra Daniela Del Fedele, Morbegno (So), Italia
233. Giulia Tranchina, Lawyer, Wilson Solicitors LLP, London
234. MarlèneMicheloni, Sociologist, Roma
235. Marina Ottonello, Genova Italia
236. Francois Zammit, Malta
237. Dr. StefaniaPlacenti, University of Bristol
238. Dawn Adrienne Saliba, Ph.D., University of Malta
239. Anna Zammit, Sociology lecturer - Junior College University of Malta.
240. Prof. Ray Fabri, University of Malta
241. Marc Tilley, Malta
242. Michael Deguara, University of Malta
243. Letizia Palumbo, European University Institute and University of Palermo, Italy.
244. Daniele Fiorenza, scrittore, Reggio Calabria
245. Lorella Beretta, journalist, Milano
246. MaaritSnellman, Teacher, Finland
247. JuhaAirola, Helsinki, Finland
248. Vanessa Sturn, Austria
249. Felix Maiwald, Germany
250. Dr. ir. Brian R. Pauw, Scientist, Berlin, Germany
251. Nicola Damiano, Bari, Italy
252. Elena Chiorino, Turin, Italy
253. Loan Torondel, aid worker, France
254. Papa Moussa Ba, London
255. Manuela Garufi, Milan
256. Enrico Tranchina, Milan
257. Alessandro Luparello, Palermo, Engineer
258. Federico Lera, S. Stefano di Magra (SP), Lawyer
259. Franca Ruolo, Firenze
260. Maria Luisa Coppo, Torino, Teacher
261. Luciana Negro, Lipari (ME)
262. Paola Spinelli, Trieste, Journalist
263. Anna Maria Osnaghi, Milano
264. Francesco Moria, Monza, Student
265. Alessandra Desiderio, Chieti
266. Maria Vaccaro, Palermo, Teacher
267. Anna Cariani, Pisa, Journalist
268. Patrizio Colagiovanni, Frosinone, Factory Worker
269. Dora Farina, Altamura (BA), Student
270. TizianaCarmelitano, Tropea (VV), Lawyer’s personal assistant
271. Annabella Milano, Bologna, Employee
272. Viviana Valastro, Bergamo, Consultant, expert in migrant minors
273. Paola Valentini, Genova, Researcher
274. Albert Mayordomo, Search & Rescue Coordinator, Open Arms NGO, Barcelona
275. MariolucaBariona, nurse, Torino
276. Dr Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor, Macquarie Law School, Australia
277. David Owen, Professor, University of Southampton
278. Francesco D'Autilia, ADV Follevola
279. Ben Cowles, journalist, Morning Star / The Civil Fleet
280. Steve Peers, Professor of EU, Human Rights & World Trade Law, University of Essex
281. Jane Kilpatrick, Researcher, Statewatch
282. Isabel Santos MEP (S&D), Portugal
---
[\[1\]](#_ftnref1)On the submission by the ComitatoNuoviDesaparecidos and ProgettoDiritti and Open Arms, see Espostoall’IMO per demolirel’alibidella zona SAR libica, 31.3.2020, Emiliano Drudi, Tempi Moderni, ; reported in English, here