The newly formed Justice Fleet has suspended contact with Libya’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center, which ‘coordinates’ violent acts by the Libyan coastguard against asylum seekers and refugees.
More than a dozen European search and rescue agencies have announced the formation of a new alliance and suspended cooperation with their Libyan counterparts over what they say is the mistreatment of refugees and asylum seekers making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe.
The 13-member coalition, which includes organizations from Germany, France, Spain and Italy, announced Wednesday the creation of the Justice Fleet, whose mission will be to “uphold human rights and international maritime law,” according to a press release from NGO SOS Humanity, which is part of the new coalition.
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Justice Fleet also announced that he was “ending operational communication” with Libya’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) in Tripoli after “years of escalating human rights violations” against asylum seekers and refugees traveling by sea.
“JRCC Tripoli, which coordinates violence through the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, cannot be recognized as a competent authority,” read the press release.
“We have never recognized these artists as legitimate rescue authorities – they are part of a violent regime enabled by the European Union,” said Compass Collective spokeswoman Ina Freibe.
“We are now being pressured to communicate with these actors. This must stop. It is a legal and moral imperative to end all operational communications with the so-called Libyan Rescue Coordination Center – a clear line against European complicity in crimes against humanity.”
At least 60 violent maritime incidents have been reported by the Libyan coastguard between 2016 and September 2025, according to a recent report by NGO Sea-Watch – part of the New Coalition – which notes that the true number is much higher. Incidents include shooting at boats carrying refugees and asylum seekers, abandoning people at sea and obstructing rescue operations.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 2,452 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean last year, making it one of the deadliest routes for refugees.
Libya, home to some 867,055 asylum seekers and refugees, has emerged as a transit route for those trying to reach Europe since the fall of its leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Under Gaddafi’s regime, Africans found work in oil-rich countries. But since his ouster, Libya has been mired in armed conflict between rival militias.
In August, 27 people died when two boats sank off a southern Italian island. lampedusa, At least 60 refugees and migrants were feared missing and drowned at sea after two ships capsized off the coast in June. Libya.
Rights groups and United Nations agencies have documented systematic abuses against refugees and migrants in Libya, including torture, rape and extortion.
In recent years, the European Union has stepped up efforts to reduce such migration, including providing equipment and financial support to the Libyan coastguard, a paramilitary organization linked to militias accused of abuses and other crimes.
NGOs say the phasing out of government search and rescue operations has made travel on the Mediterranean more dangerous.
As a result, many people fleeing conflict and persecution have found themselves trapped in Libya, often detained in conditions that rights groups describe as inhumane.