On 27 November, the 7th Steering Committee of the EU-funded Support to Integrated Border and Migration Management in Libya project (SIBMMIL) took place in Rome. The meeting reviewed key achievements and remaining challenges in Libyan border management. The EU Ambassador Nicola Orlando commended Libya’s efforts to save lives at sea and in the desert, and reaffirmed the EU’s ‘unwavering commitment to jointly combating human smuggling and trafficking.’ All parties reiterated their shared determination ‘to strengthen Libya’s human-rights-compliant border management capacities, with an enhanced focus on securing land borders.’
The following day, Orlando participated in high-ranking consultations with representatives of all relevant Libyan institutions on a new, cross-country EU-funded flagship programme building on the work of the Technical Mission on rights-based migration and border management. The initiative should be jointly implemented by the Italian Ministry of the Interior and the International Organization on Migration (IOM) with the aim to strengthen the management of land borders and migratory routes, investigate and dismantle transnational human smuggling and trafficking networks, and assist Libyan communities affected by migration.
On 30 November, the EU Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner participated in the MED5 meeting of Mediterranean countries in Malta. During the meeting, effective multilateral approaches to the migration file were reportedly discussed. On the sideline of the event, Brunner gave an interview with Times of Malta in which he said that the EU has no alternative but to cooperate with Libya, despite repeated criticism from human rights organizations directed at the Libyan Coast Guard. He added that Valletta remains a central element in Brussels’ strategy to confront illegal immigration across the Mediterranean.