Europe’s dirty secret: How the EU outsources migrant torture to Libya |
At dawn in the central Mediterranean, the sea often appears deceptively calm. On the morning the crew of the Humanity 1 spotted a wooden boat on the horizon, the water was glassy, almost serene. Yet as the rescue ship approached, the illusion shattered. Dozens of people were crammed tightly together on the fragile vessel, waving frantically, shouting for help. Not a single person was wearing a life jacket. Their survival depended entirely on chance.
Within minutes, the crew of Humanity 1 mobilised. Lifeboats were deployed. People were pulled aboard one by one-some laughing in disbelief, others trembling in shock, their eyes vacant from exhaustion and trauma. For those rescued, this moment represented a razor-thin escape from death. Had they drifted unnoticed a few hours longer, they might have drowned. Had they been intercepted instead by the Libyan coastguard, their fate may have been even worse.
This is not speculation. It is lived experience.
For Kabir*, an 18-year-old from Egypt, this rescue in late November was the culmination of nearly a year of repeated failure, abuse, and near-death. It was his seventh attempt in 2025 alone to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe. Four times, his boats were intercepted by the Libyan coastguard. Once, Tunisian authorities intercepted his vessel and handed him over to Libyan forces-a practice rights groups have likened to human trafficking. Each interception ended the same way: imprisonment, torture, starvation, and extortion inside Libya’s vast and brutal detention system.
Kabir’s story exposes a truth that European governments have worked hard to keep out of sight: Europe’s border does not end at its coastline. It extends deep into Libya, enforced through violence, corruption, and abuse that the EU knowingly funds.
For more than a decade, the European Union has pursued a strategy known as “externalisation” of migration control-preventing migrants from ever reaching European territory so that asylum obligations can be avoided. Libya has become the centrepiece of this strategy in the central Mediterranean.
Since 2015, the EU and individual member states, particularly Italy, have channelled hundreds of millions of euros into Libyan border enforcement. This support has included patrol boats, training programmes, communications equipment, maintenance contracts, and direct financial assistance. At least 14 patrol vessels have been supplied by Italy........