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Joint Team on crimes against migrants on the Central Mediterranean Route

What is the Joint Team?

Background

2013 saw an unprecedented spike in the departure of boats with migrants from Libyan shores heading to Europe, organized by extremely violent criminal organisations. Several large shipwrecks occurred near the Italian coast following this spike. As a result, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (hereafter: UK) and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (hereafter: ICC-OTP) started exploring the possibility to combine forces and expertise in the battle against the key criminal actors and criminal organizations behind the smuggling activities on the route from the Horn of Africa, through Libya, to Europe and further. The discussions eventually resulted in the setting up of a Joint Team (hereafter: JT) focussing on crimes against migrants on the so-called Central Mediterranean Route (hereafter: CMR). While not a signatory partner, Europol has been supporting the Member States joining forces under the JT, by engaging expertise and capabilities available in the Agency, and contributing within its mandate, with information and analysis services.

Central Mediterranean Route

The CMR is the final stage of multiple migration routes emerging from West Africa, North Africa, South Asia and the Horn of Africa. All these migration routes define Libya as the central node for the CMR. The CMR has historically been one of the busiest and most dangerous routes for migrant smuggling activities into Europe, and includes the corridors targeted by the JT, from the Horn of Africa through Libya to Europe and further. The route remains infamous for fatal incidents and the extreme violence to which migrants are systematically exposed.

The JT is particularly interested in the most violent modus operandi (MO) on this route where migrants are often kept in (often illegal) detention centres in Libya for extended periods of time. In the detention centres, living conditions are extremely poor and migrants are subjected to serious ill-treatment, including starvation, torture, sexual and gender-based crimes, slavery, etc. Migrants are often forced to call relatives asking them to pay the requested smuggling fees, which in some cases takes many months. Migrants unable to pay the requested amounts may be subjected to forced labour or they face the threat of losing their lives or suffering serious harm from criminals. One of the practices used by smugglers operating from or in the detention camps has been to force migrants to execute tasks for them and in service of the smuggling operations they coordinate, in exchange for the trip to Europe and the respective smuggling fees.

At times, smugglers trade or sell migrants amongst each other, in which case migrants are forced to pay additional fees. Upon payment, migrants are transported to the coast where they are boarded on (often unseaworthy) vessels to make the crossing to Italy. At sea, the boats may be intercepted and the migrants returned to (informal or formal) detention centres from where the whole process starts again. Others perish at sea. Again others don’t even make it to the sea since they die during the journeys over land or while in detention camps. Those who make it to Europe are often seriously traumatised as a result of their experiences on the CMR.

JT partners

The JT was formally established in 2018 under article 19 of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime consisting of law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities of Italy, the Netherlands and the UK. While the ICC-OTP was an active participant in the JT from the start, it formally joined as a JT partner, along with the Spain, in September 2022. Europol’s European Migrant Smuggling Centre (EMSC) has been involved from the early stages of the cooperation. While Europol is not a formal partner in the agreement, the Agency plays a crucial role in the JT, providing a platform for securely exchanging operational information, and supporting with the coordination of operational responses, with information and analysis.

The JT is seeking to expand its cooperation and is engaging in discussions with several other relevant EU member states.

Focus

The JT is a pioneering intelligence sharing mechanism that focuses on a number of individuals (so-called High Value Targets or HVTs) and criminal organisations they are part of, involved in serious organised migration-related crimes connected to the CMR. The HVTs are infamous for their extorting migrants, combined with the use of extreme violence, including torture, human trafficking, slavery, rape and other forms of sexual violence and inhumane treatment. Some of these crimes may amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Objectives

The overall objective of the JT is to end the impunity of the leaders of the violent migrant smuggling networks operating on the CMR. Through its actions, the JT partners aim to facilitate lawful interventions that could take down the members of the organisations and/or disrupt their business models. Given the importance of cooperation to tackle serious organised migration-related crime, the JT also strives to set up partnerships with relevant third countries and organisations.

Secretariat and Infocel

The project is coordinated by a Secretariat staffed by the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Secretariat acts as the driver of the JT. In close cooperation with the JT partners, it identifies cooperation opportunities and reaches out to potential third partners. The Secretariat is responsible for the organisation of meetings, providing technical support, securing funding and organising capacity building activities. Furthermore, it takes the lead on the sustainable implementation of the cooperation (see also under Future of the Joint Team).

The JT is further supported by a small Infocel, staffed by experts from the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, Dutch National Police and Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service. It acts as “spider in the web” by providing assistance to and processing a wide range of requests from the JT partners, and works closely together with Europol to build a solid intelligence picture to serve the investigations, etc.

What is the role of the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office (Landelijk Parket)?

The Secretariat that coordinates the work of the JT is staffed by the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Furthermore, the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office oversees the investigations carried out by the Dutch Royal Marechaussee (KMar) against a number of the HVTs, including two infamous alleged Eritrean smugglers.

Witnesses and victims

If you are a witness or victim of serious migration-related crimes committed on the CMR, particularly in Libya, in the period after 2016, and you wish to share this information, please contact us via cmr-infocel.den-haag@politie.nl. We will then assess if we can use your information for the investigations against the HVTs. Should you wish to remain anonymous, you can indicate this in your email.

Alternatively, you can contact the Criminal Intelligence Team (TCI) of the Royal Dutch Marechaussee by phone on +31 (0) 30  276 12 16 or via email TCl.kmar@mindef.nl. The conversation with TCI is anonymous from the start and strictly confidential. To guarantee your anonymity it is important that you do not discuss your contact with the TCI with anyone.

You may also get in touch with the ICC-OTP via: https://otplink.icc-cpi.int/.

Cases / investigations

So far, the cooperation has contributed to the start of new investigations resulting in several (international) arrest warrants against HVTs by Italy and the Netherlands as well as in investigations at the ICC.

  • In the Netherlands, a total of seven people are summoned in a lawsuit that is due to start in Zwolle on 3 November 2025. The first to stand trial is an alleged Eritrean smuggler who was extradited from Ethiopia in 2022. His co-defendant was arrested in Sudan in early 2023 and is awaiting extradition from the UAE to The Netherlands.They are both suspected of participating in a criminal organization that was involved in human smuggling, hostage-taking, extortion and violence, including sexual violence 
  • In 2024 the Dutch announced that a new investigation into other HVTs on the CMR had been launched. 
  • The cooperation has further contributed to the arrest and prosecution of HVT associates, mainly torturers and jailers, in Italy by the Procura di Palermo.

Funding

In 2018 and 2019, the JT benefitted from short term funding through so-called Low Value Grants and High Value Grants from the EMPACT platform. From 2019, the JT obtained long term funding from the Internal Security Fund – Police as part of a larger consortium for the period of 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2024. For the project cycle management aspect of the funding, the Prosecutor’s Office contacted the Centre for International Legal Cooperation (CILC).

In 2024, the JT – supported by CILC – secured new funding through the Migration Partnership Facility of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development for the period 1 July 2024 to 30 April 2027.

The external funding covers costs related to, among others, travel for meetings of the JT and with external partners, staffing, expert reports and exceptional operational costs.

Future of the Joint Team

The cooperation is intended as a long-term project. International cooperation in addressing organised migration-related crimes is essential. Therefore, the JT is exploring how the cooperation can be implemented in a more sustainable manner and best practices can be integrated in existing authorities and organisations. A durable implementation of the working method of the JT does not necessarily need to be limited to the crimes on the CMR. Furthermore, it may involve additional EU member states and other (EU) partners. In this context, as mentioned above, the Secretariat is engaged in discussions with external partners.

Capacity building

The previous and current funding also cover modest capacity building activities in Ethiopia and Kenya, focussing on law enforcement and prosecution authorities. These activities are developed based on concrete training needs but generally have a focus on financial investigations related to migration-related crimes. CILC supports the implementation of these activities.

Relevant links