The EU-Libya MoU Is A Duplicitous Cover For Crimes Against Humanity

On December 1st 2025 Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, commonly known as ‘El Hishri’, was surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is to face trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity in The Hague this year. The trial is a significant moment in the modern history of European-Libyan relations as it demonstrates that crimes - both contemporary and historical - of the greatest severity that are committed in Libyan detention centres are subject to international scrutiny and can eventually lead to prosecution and imprisonment. 

El Hishri was a prison guard at Mitiga Prison in Tripoli and, according to the official ICC transcript, he is charged with: “War crimes: cruel treatment, torture, outrages upon personal dignity, rape, sexual violence and murder of a number of persons detained in Mitiga Prison; and crimes against humanity: imprisonment, committed by imprisoning detainees in Mitiga Prison without a legal basis to do so.” The fact that the ICC is able to arrest and likely prosecute for historic crimes against humanity in Libya has only been made possible by the fact that on May 12th 2025 Libyan authorities accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction over its territory. For 14 years prior, the ICC has been attempting to prosecute abuses in Libyan detention facilities after first attempting to conduct investigations in March 2011. Now, the ICC has jurisdiction until 2027. 

But refugees fleeing conflict in neighbouring countries in the Sahel such as Sudan, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo still face appalling treatment in detention centres across Libya as well as at the hands of smuggling gangs taking groups across the Sahara Desert before eventually aiming to cross The Mediterranean and travel north, to Europe. So whilst the public arrest of El Hishri represents a positive step toward prosecuting crimes committed in the past, there are still present day abuses taking place and through cooperation with the Libyan Coast Guard, the EU is indirectly facilitating such abuses. 

In 2017 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Libya and Italy. The MoU is an agreement that sought to stem the flow of crossings from Libya to islands in the central Mediterranean including Lampedusa which became notorious after being frequently covered on news channels across Europe. According to the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR): “Since 2016, the EU has increased its capacity-building and operational support for the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, including the provision of funding, patrol boats, equipment and training.” The MoU remains the main framework through which EU-Libyan migration policy is dealt with despite the fact that due to its imbalanced functional relationship migrants' rights are routinely abused by the Libyan Coast Guard. According to Human Rights Watch: “This assistance has enabled Libyan Coast Guard forces over the last eight years to intercept tens of thousands of people at sea and return them to Libya, where they face inhumane conditions of detention, a high risk of torture, and other ill treatment. Libyan Coast Guard forces also threaten and endanger nongovernmental rescue vessels trying to bring people to safety.”

In the wake of the 2011 Libyan revolution which saw dictator Colonel Gaddafi ousted from power, the EU, international organisations, and sovereign states have struggled with engaging both governments in Tripoli and Benghazi in order to form a coherent migration strategy. Libya is a state split in two, divided by east and west and essentially run by two separate governments who preside over two separate countries. Simultaneously, the 2017 MoU has attempted to stem the flow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean at a time when EU member states have adopted more anti-immigration policies. Under complicated and fragmented geopolitical circumstances, the MoU has remained in place as it has worked for successive Italian governments who have tried to outsource immigration control whilst also sufficing for leaders in Tripoli who have received economic support and formal training from the EU. 

This support has helped fund and equip the Libyan Coast Guard with resources that have been used in order to commit grievous abuses against refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Despite appeals from human rights groups including MSF and Human Rights Watch, the MoU automatically renewed for another three years on November 3rd 2025 meaning that this cycle of abuse will continue to be facilitated as a result of the outsourcing of EU border control. 

For Italy and for the EU, the MoU has been used as a fig leaf that can be waved in order to assuage the political right’s baying for an end to illegal immigration. As a result, the human rights of refugees are being overlooked. Once in detention centres in Libya, refugees - including women and children - are faced with the treatment of officers and guards like El Hishri, a man who will now face trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. His arrest at the end of last year should not overshadow the fact that less than a month before a framework that allows such acts of violence to be perpetuated was quietly renewed despite consistent calls for its cancellation. 

So whilst it should be acknowledged that the arrest of El Hishri and the acceptance from Libyan authorities of the jurisdiction of the ICC are moves toward justice, such acknowledgement should not mean that the perpetuation of violence being allowed by the renewal of the MoU is ignored. Whilst EU member states may desire tighter borders and the increase of measures in order to stem the flow of illegal immigration, that does not make it okay for the EU to engage in frameworks that allow for human rights to be abused in foreign countries.

Image: Flickr/vfutscher

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