LONDON: A group of NGOs operating rescue missions in the Mediterranean have ceased cooperating with the Libyan coast guard over the latter’s alleged violent treatment of asylum-seekers.

Thirteen groups running boats across the sea say it is a rejection of pressure from the EU to share information with Libya in a bid to stem the flow of migrants, particularly to Italy.

The EU funds and trains Libya’s coast guard, but the groups say that it has been involved in violently preventing people crossing to Europe, and has taken migrants to camps where rape, torture and slavery are common.

A 2021 UN report found asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya faced a “litany of abuses” in camps across the country that were “suggestive of crimes against humanity.”

Another report published last month by Berlin-based NGO Sea-Watch said that the Libyan coast guard had engaged in 54 acts of violence in the Mediterranean since 2016.

It highlighted ramming, shootings and assaults, while in August the Libyan coast guard was accused of opening fire on a ship belonging to the NGO SOS Mediterranee.

Ina Friebe, a member of the German activist group CompassCollective, said in a joint statement on behalf of the 13 NGOs: “We have never recognized these actors (Libya’s coast guard) as a legitimate rescue authority — they are part of a violent regime enabled by the EU.”

She added: “Now we are increasingly being pressured to communicate with exactly these actors. This must stop. Ending all operational communication with the so-called Libyan Rescue Coordination Center is both a legal and moral necessity — a clear line against European complicity in crimes against humanity.”

The group of 13 NGOs added that they know their stance could result in fines, detention and loss of their vessels.

“It is not only our right but our duty to treat armed militias as such in our operational communication — not as legitimate actors in search-and-rescue operations,” said Giulia Messmer of Sea-Watch.

Rescue organizations operating in the Mediterranean have saved more than 155,000 people over the past decade, but that has led to backlashes, including in Italy where the law was changed to prevent them operating freely out of ports.

The 13 NGOs said this week that they had launched the Justice Fleet initiative to track incidents involving the Libyan coast guard, as well as compile information on legal action taken by the groups.

“For 10 years, civil sea rescue has been providing first aid in the Mediterranean. For that, we have been blocked, criminalized, slandered,” the Justice Fleet website said.

“That’s why we are joining forces now, stronger than ever — to defend human rights and international maritime law together.”