On 27 November 2024, the European resolution aiming at the creation of a European sea rescue fleet was adopted in committee (see more info here).

Since 2017, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has reported annually to the UN Security Council that migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean and held in detention camps in Libya are routinely subjected to ongoing Crimes Against Humanity, according to Shatz.

In 2019, front-LEX and the “International Law in Action” Clinic at Sciences Po in Paris submitted a complaint to the ICC Prosecutor against high-level EU and Member State officials allegedly responsible for these crimes. While the case was admitted, the ICC Prosecutor has so far failed (or refused) to take action to hold those accountable.

In 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the conclusions of its fact-finding mission, which determined that Western European states are complicit in Crimes Against Humanity occurring in the Mediterranean and Libya. This marks the first such finding since the Second World War, Shatz noted.

Citing repeated violations of Article 3 of the Council of Europe Statute, Shatz urged the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to adopt measures similar to those imposed on other member states found in breach of their obligations. These measures include: suspending the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights until it ends its criminal migration policies in the Mediterranean; urging national courts in member states to apply domestic and universal jurisdiction to prosecute implicated European nationals; and calling on Rome Statute member states to refer the situation in the EU to the ICC, compelling the Prosecutor to initiate an impartial investigation into ICC crimes committed by EU actors.