20.10.2025, taz

Onwards with the Libyan torturers Despite ongoing human rights violations: Germany and Italy decide themselves for further cooperation with Libya’s coast guard.

Shots at rescuers, torture of migrants, mafia-like dealings: For years, reports have been piling up about the most serious human rights violations by the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) and the militias connected with it. Nevertheless, Italy and Germany decided independently of each other on Wednesday: The cooperation continues. On Wednesday, the German parliament waved through the extension of the German armed forces’ mandate for the EU military mission Irini. This is supposed to monitor the arms embargo against Libya, but as a “side task” also further build up and train the LCG. In the latter, Germany had until now explicitly not participated because of their human rights violations. “In principle, the following applies for the German government: There is no German bilateral support for the Libyan Coast Guard,” said a spokesperson of the Foreign Office still at the end of September to the taz newspaper. read more

Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Deutschland, Italien / Malta, Libya