Italy supplying LCG
Italy gave the so-called Libyan Coast Guard patrol boats, training and the coordinates of boats in distress. In return, it got fewer arrivals, and a system in which the drowning does not stop, it merely moves out of sight.
After Italy signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Development, Combatting Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking and Smuggling, and on Strengthening Border Security" with Libya's Government of National Accord. Weeks later, the EU threw its support behind the agreement through the Malta Declaration.
What this meant in practice was immediate and concrete. In May 2017, Italy donated four fast patrol boats to the Libyan Coast Guard, with two more large vessels and 30 Zodiac speedboats promised by October. Around the same time, the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre began routinely sharing information about boats in distress with Libyan authorities – even when better-equipped Italian vessels were closer to the scene. NGO rescue ships, meanwhile, were instructed to wait before intervening, to allow the Libyan Coast Guard to act first.
The training ran through EUNAVFOR MED (Operation Sophia), which launched a training programme for Libyan navy and coast guard personnel in October 2016, months before the MoU was even signed. Documents obtained by Access Info Europe in 2017 revealed that human rights made up just 0.5 percent of all Frontex-led training materials.
The logic of the agreement creates its own incentive: Libya's cooperation depends on Italian funding, and Italy's political goal, fewer arrivals, depends on Libyan cooperation.
Sources
Italy: End Border Control Pact with Libya (Human Rights Watch, October 2025)
EU/Italy/Libya: Disputes Over Rescues Put Lives at Risk (Human Rights Watch, 2018)
Italy Reups Funding to Force Migrants Back to Libya (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
How Italy and Europe Funded the Libyan Coast Guards (ARCI, 2019)