Italy to renew migration management agreement with Libya despite attacks at sea

The Italian Government will renew the agreement it has held since 2017 with the Libyan authorities to contain immigration in the Mediterranean, despite multiple reports of mistreatment, assaults, and shootings perpetrated on the high seas.

The Italian Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday a motion calling for the renewal of the agreement presented by the coalition governing the country, formed by the far-right Brothers of Italy of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the League of Matteo Salvini and the conservative Forza Italia of Antonio Tajani. The text called on the Executive to "follow the national strategy to combat human traffickers and prevent departures from Libya based on the 2017 memorandum" and received 153 votes in favor, 112 against and 9 abstentions. You can also read: The agreement was signed in 2017 by the government of Paolo Gentiloni, then leader of the social democratic Democratic Party (PD), and involved providing economic and technical assistance to the Libyan authorities to intercept the boats carrying immigrants at sea. Since its implementation, the agreement has been harshly criticized by international humanitarian organizations due to the mistreatment suffered by immigrants in Libya, a country mired in violence and war for more than a decade. Parallel to this, the Chamber of Deputies has rejected two motions presented by the opposition: one from the PD that demanded not to renew the agreement and another from the Five Star Movement that was limited to urging the Government to its "revision". The new PD secretary, Elly Schlein, has expressed her desire to end the memorandum because of the "atrocities and suffering it has caused", despite having been achieved by her party. "The Libyan Coast Guard is deeply infiltrated by militias that trample on fundamental human rights every day. Over the years, there have been countless testimonies, including those about atrocities, torture, human trafficking, murders, repeated violations of the most basic rights, as well as violations committed on the high seas," it denounced in a statement. The deadline to renew the current agreement is November 2nd, and therefore, a series of protests and actions have been called until this Saturday to demand its withdrawal, supported by NGOs that save immigrants at sea, such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Meanwhile, in the central Mediterranean, alleged aggressions by the Libyan coast guard continue to be recorded. Last Monday, the organization 'Alarm Phone', which receives emergency calls from immigrants, reported that a boat with a hundred people in Maltese waters had been shot at. The same day, a group of 140 immigrants arrived at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo (south), including three wounded by gunshots, one of them in critical condition and in a coma, according to the rescue NGO Mediterranean Saving Humans. In recent years, Italy has managed to drastically reduce the landings of immigrants on its coasts. So far in 2025, 54,380 people have done so across the Mediterranean, in line with last year's level, but much less than in 2023, when 139,946 immigrants had arrived by this time, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.