Overview

• Human Rights Watch on Oct. 13 called on Italy to revoke its 2017 migration agreement with Libya before it renews automatically for three years on Nov. 2, 2025.
• The deal provides Italian training, funding and vessels to the Libyan Coast Guard, enabling tens of thousands of interceptions and returns to detention in Libya.
• A 2023 UN fact-finding mission found reasonable grounds that senior coast guard officials colluded with traffickers and that some abuses likely constitute crimes against humanity.
• Sea-Watch documented 60 violent incidents by Libyan militias since 2016, including August and September gunfire on the Ocean Viking and Sea-Watch 5 by patrol boats supplied by Italy.
• EU bodies will host Libyan migration officials on Oct. 14–16, as lawmakers and NGOs urge a halt to funding and cooperation and the Commission defends continued engagement.