"We rescued 68 people from two unsuitable boats on the night of May 1st," Marie Michel, a crew member of the sea rescue organization SOS Humanity, reported at a press conference marking the group's 10th anniversary.

"Both boats were in the Libyan search and rescue zone at the time, but the Libyan rescue coordination center did not coordinate any of these rescues but said that they are not responsible," she added.

In Michel's view, this sums up how the European Union has successively outsourced responsibility for rescuing people from drowning in the Mediterranean to civilian organizations for more than a decade.

According to the International Organization for Migration, almost 32,000 refugees have drowned in the Mediterranean since 2014. This year alone, 500 have drowned — so far.

Agreements worth hundreds of millions of euros between the EU and Libya in 2017, and the EU and Tunisia in 2023, were designed to reduce migration — and the many deaths in the Mediterranean.

The deals stipulated that the coastguards of both countries would take over border protection. However, these agreements have been heavily criticized, and reports on serious human rights........

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