368 migrants are killed in a shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa (Italy) while trying to sail from Libya.
The shipwreck took place just 800 meters from Lampedusa and less than 2 kilometers from a port full of fast, well-equipped military vessels capable of reaching the scene in a matter of minutes.
A boat carrying mostly Syrian asylum seekers sank in the Mediterranean. Among the 268 people who drowned, were at least 60 children.
Following the two October shipwrecks, Italy launches Operation Mare Nostrum, a national SAR mission operating in Libyan SAR zone.
After the termination of Mare Nostrum, NGOs became critical actors in filling the rescue gap in the Mediterranean.
Operation Triton by Frontex replaces Italy’s Mare Nostrum
Triton was under-resourced compared to Mare Nostrum, with under one‑third of the budget, 1 vessel ships and one helicopter.
Triton patrols only 30 nautical miles off Italian coast, and is unable to carry out widespread SAR missions, effectively leaving around 40 nautical miles of key distress area off the coast of Libya uncovered.
The EU launches Operation Sophia as an EU military naval operation (EUNAVFOR Med). Its stated aim is to disrupt smuggling networks - SAR is not part of its mandate.
One of the key tasks was to destroy wooden boats used by refugees and migrants for the crossing.
Operation Sophia was amended to establish cooperation with LYCG, including capacity-building and training of the LYCG.
The LYCG and Sophia’s Operation Commander Enrico Credendino signed a Memorandum of Understanding
Italy signed the 3rd Memorandum of Understanding with Libya aimed at “stemming illegal migration flows.”
The next day, the EU adopted the Malta Declaration, which formally institutionalised EU funding and training of Libyan forces to intercept migrants before they reach European SAR zones. EU commits to stem flows by strengthening Libya’s capacity (training, financing Libyan Coast Guard) & improving “reception capacities” in Libya; €200M pledged.
Carmelo Zuccaro, the chief prosecutor in Catania, Italy, threatened to open criminal investigations into SAR NGOs for their alleged facilitation of illegal immigration.
Carmelo Zuccaro spread groundless accusations that NGOs conducting SAR operations were “colluding with smugglers,” a claim which the Italian senate subsequently affirmed as a baseless, and which Zuccaro was forced to revoke.
ICC Prosecutor mentions Crimes Against Humanity against migrants at the UN Security Council (UNSC) for the first time.
It marked the first formal acknowledgement of possible international crimes against migrants on the Central Mediterranean route by the ICC.
NGOs are forced to sign a Code of Conduct as a disciplining measure targeting NGOs conducting SAR in the Central Mediterranean. Amongst other provisions contrary to human rights, humanitarian and maritime law, The Code also refused to grant permission to NGO vessels to disembark rescued persons at the closest port of safety.
Interior Ministers of Austria and Germany Sobotka and de Maiziere accuse ngos of working with smugglers.
The German nonprofit, Jugend Rettet, found its vessel Iuventa confiscated by Italian authorities and subject to criminal investigations under suspicion of assistance to illegal migration and collusion with smugglers. In 2018, individuals heard they were being prosecuted and only seven years later in 2024 they were acquitted.
Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, and Arbitrary Executions, published her report to the UN General Assembly on the “Unlawful Death of Refugees and Migrants”:
The report recommends the ICC to consider preliminary investigation into atrocity crimes against refugees and migrants.
Italy applied for Libya’s SAR zone to the IMO.
At least 89 people were placed under investigation or prosecuted for their involvement with border crossers, as opposed to 20 prosecutions in 2017.
Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that some policies and practices used by States to deter, prevent or address the arrival of migrants could themselves amount to torture or ill-treatment.
He called for the ICC to examine whether investigations for crimes against humanity or war crimes are warranted in view of the scale, gravity and increasingly systematic nature of torture, ill-treatment and other serious human rights violations suffered by millions of migrants.
4 different Italian warships were docked in the port of Tripoli with onboard materials, equipment and technical team dedicated to facilitate LYCG rescue operations.
Malta closed its ports to NGO migrant rescue ship, Mission Lifeline, and the captain was charged with entering Malta’s territorial waters illegally with 234 migrants, whom he rescued on 21 June 2018.
The International Maritime Organization formally reflected the Libyan SAR region on the Global Integrated Shipping Information System.
By this point, 213 Libyan officials had been trained by EU officials at sea and in member states' facilities, such as in Crete, Malta, Spain and Italy.
The First Communication was filed to ICC by the victim's legal representatives Adv. Omer Shatz and Adv. Juan Branco:
The First Communication accused EU and Member State officials of Crimes Against Humanity, aided by Libyan actors, asserting that the situation meets procedural requirements under Article 15 of the Rome Statute.
EU withdraws Sophia’s ships, reducing it to air surveillance only - rescue capacity stripped entirely despite increasing deaths
A new policy by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management took effect, imposing stricter safety regulations on NGO ships than under the International Certification for Pleasure Crafts (ICP).
A migrant rescue ship remained stranded just outside Maltese waters as a standoff with authorities entered its second day amid ongoing regional disputes over disembarkation.
Operation Sophia ends and is replaced by Operation Irini, whose mandate focuses on enforcing UN arms embargoes, not SAR, though it includes surveillance and intelligence-sharing that aids the Libyan Coast Guard in intercepting migrant boats.
The ICC Prosecutor was auditioned at the European Parliament about the First Communication.
Whilst the ICC Prosecutor affirmed to still be in the process of assessing the First Communication, she nonetheless added that “the communication that was made is against States" and that "our jurisdiction is individual criminal responsibility not against states”, emphasising focus on individual responsibility, rather than state responsibility.
The OTP added the First Communication to the ongoing Libya investigation (the decision is on file with author):
The addition to the Libya situation indicated that the crimes mentioned in the First Communication are indeed sufficiently serious enough to warrant investigation.
However, the decision to assign the case to the Libya situation was an error: the perpetrators and victims are different from the situation indicated in the UNSC Resolution granting jurisdiction for the Libya investigation, and the crimes against migrants are not part of - nor an extension of - the 2011 Libya conflict.
The Criminal Court of Rome rendered a judgement on the Lampedusa shipwreck finding two senior Italian officials responsible for manslaughter by ommission.
Fact-Finding Mission in Libya (FFM) of the Human Rights Council releases an interim report determining that third countries may be complicit in crimes against humanity in Libya witihout mentioning the EU eplicitly.
Italian criminal court convicts and sentences a boat captain to one year in prison for returning asylum seekers to Libya.
The ICC formally recognised the Victim in the Victims Participation and Reparations Sections (VPRS. (decision on file with author)
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan QC joins the EU Taskforce, composed of the relevant national authorities of Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Spain, on migration-related crimes
German Scientific Service finds that returning asylum seekers to Libya may give rise to individual criminal responsibility under the German Penal Code.
UN Human Rights Council (FFM on LIbya) releases final report:
Highest international human rights body finds that EU officials directly implicate EU officials in Crimes Against Humanity against migrants on the Central Mediterranean Route corroborating the allegations made in the First Communication.
Marks the first time since Western Europeans are accused of international crimes outside armed conflict
Prosecutor signals intent to close Libya situation by the end of 2025, while the crimes are being described as ongoing, and the suspects have not been arrested.
Italian Refoulement by Proxy Case: Constitutional Court.
The Italian Constitutional Court confirms that Libya is not a safe country and that forcing refugees back there constitutes a crime under international law.
The ICC Prosecutor, in its bi-annual 27th bi-annual report to the UNSC, officially stated its intentiona to end the investigation phase of the libya situation by the end of 2025.
Pre-Trial Chamber I unsealed six arrest warrants, in the Libya situation, for suspects involved in fighting in the Tarhunah region from 2015-2020.
Judge Socorro Flores Liera dissentend, arguing that the ICC lacks jurisdiction under the UNSC referral over crimes that are not connected to the Libyan uprising of 2011 or the Gaddafi regime.
The ICC Prosecutor, in its bi-annual 28th bi-annual report to the UNSC, considered it was on track to successfully implement the roadmap for completion of investigative activities by the end of 2025.
The legal representatives of the victim Adv. Omer Shatz and Adv. Juan Branco submitted a request to ICC Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) seeking a determination over the inaction of the Prosecutor regarding the victims' Article 15 Communication.
ICC issues arrest warrant against Osama Almasri Njeem and his arrest in Italy.
Having received information that Mr. Almasri Njeem had entered the Schengen zone, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Almasri.
In the early hours of Sunday 19 January 2025 Almasri was arrested by the Italian police pursuant Article 716 of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure.
After his arrest, rather than executing the surrender process, Italy swiftly released him, transferring him to Libya aboard an Italian state aircraft, where he remains a fugitive.
The legal representatives of the victim Adv. Omer Shatz and Adv. Juan Branco filed a motion under Article 70 proceedings (offences against the administration of justice) against Italian Prime Minister Meloni, Minister of the Justice Nordio and Minister of the Interior Piantedosi.
The motion requests the Office of the Prosecutor to exercise its jurisdiction by investigating and, if necessary, prosecuting the Suspects for obstruction of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute.
The Office of the Public Council for Victims and the legal representatives of the victim in the present case, Adv. Omer Shatz and Adv. Juan Branco, filed a Victim’s Request to Submit Observations Concerning a potential finding of noncompliance under article 87(7) against the Republic of Italy, following the release of Osama Elmasry / Almasri NJEEM’. (on file with author)
Libya joined the Rome Statute (ICC)
The ICC Prosecutor indicated in its 29th bi-annual report to the UNSC that the envisioned closure of the investigation phase of the Libya situation would be moved to its first report to the UNSC in 2026.