CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ REGULAR MIGRATION THROUGH SOUTH MEDITERRANEAN ROUTE … and Fundamental Freedoms in the Criminal Procedure. Her Ph.D. was acquired in 2014. The topic of the thesis was “The Fight Against Terrorism in the Context of International Humanitarian Law”. Her scientific interests are public international law and European Union law. Violeta Vasiliauskienė supervises bachelor and master students in her university and in the Frontex and CEPOL joint master programs. Introduction The particular status of the NGO ships operating in the Mediterranean was in the spotlight in recent months. There were different opinions regarding their role in migration flows. In March 2017, an Italian prosecutor started an investigation into whether non-profit ships working in rescue operations in Mediterranean had connections to smuggling operations. 1 The extent of migrant smuggling is astounding as “between 2011 and 2016, some 630,000 irregular migrants and refugees reached Italy via the Central Mediterranean”, 2 and according to the data from Frontex, 90 percent of them are facilitated by migrant smugglers. Many migrants suffer and die on their journey from Africa to Europe. Therefore, due to the high rates of migration some NGOs (besides the coast guard vessels and EU mission vessels) started to conduct search and rescue operations. The obligations of the ships passing by persons in distress in the sea usually presume that the ships are on their own way to their destinations and only accidentally happen to be in the place where persons need rescue. In this case the ships of NGOs are patrolling the Mediterranean for the sole purpose of rescuing persons in distress – without having first received the distress call, they are there on duty. Therefore, the question regarding the international obligations pertaining to them is very relevant. Thus, the aim of the present article is to analyse the legal status of coast guard patrol vessels and humanitarian rescue vessels in the Mediterranean Sea according to the rules of international law and to review their activity in the Mediterranean. The particular route analysed in this article is the South Mediterranean route, which has the highest irregular migration rate in the Mediterranean. The Actors in the Mediterranean The actors dealing with the migrant crisis and carrying out search and rescue (hereinafter – also SAR) operations in the Mediterranean may be classified in several categories. Firstly, the Italian Coast Guard and Navy and Custom police are operating in the area “between Sicily, Calabria, Malta, Lampedusa and Pantelleria, … inside as well as near Italian territorial waters and the Italian SAR area.” 3 The Libyan Coast Guard also patrols on their territorial waters and also conducts search and rescue operations. 4 Furthermore, the EU Frontex joint 1 CAMPBELL, Zach, New Evidence Undermines EU Report Tying Refugee Rescue Group to Smugglers. The Intercept, 2 April 2017. https://theintercept.com/2017/04/02/new-evidence-undermines-eu-report-tying- refugee-rescue-group-to-smugglers/ accessed 30 May 2017. 2 EUROPEAN COMMISSION, European Political Strategy Centre . Irregular Migration via the Central Mediterranean: From Emergency Responses to Systemic Solutions . EPSC Strategic Notes, Issue 22, 2 February 2017. https://ec.europa.eu/epsc/sites/epsc/files/strategic_note_issue_22_0.pdf Accessed 30 May 2017. P. 1. 3 Ibid , p. 4. 4 A recent example may be seen in: Italian, Libyan coastguards rescue 5,000 migrants in 48 hours off Libya. French Press Agency – AFP . Rome, 20 May 2017 http://www.ntd.tv/2017/05/10/libyan-coast-guard-rescues-over-300- migrants/ accessed 30 May 2017.

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