Updated 10.30am

Leaked documents from an EU military operation suggest Malta “refuses” to participate in migrant rescue missions in its designated search and rescue area.

An internal memo from the EU’s special naval mission in the Mediterranean, known as IRINI, references what it terms as Malta’s lack of cooperation in migrant rescue operations.

The memo, dated September 2024, was authored by a French legal adviser in the IRINI mission and is intended as a briefing document for French personnel.

It says despite these migrant “events” mainly happening in Malta’s search and rescue zone, it is the Italians who take over as “Malta never responds and refuses to follow these operations”.

The IRINI memo is part of a cache of documents leaked from the European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic service.

These documents were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with Times of Malta and other media partners. They also detail the perilous journey taken by migrants who pay people smugglers €6,000 for a position on an overcrowded boat from Libya to Malta. 

Migrant NGOs have long claimed Malta has a “murderous policy” of failing to uphold its search and rescue obligations at sea.

A spokesperson for AlarmPhone, an NGO that helps facilitate migrant rescues, told Times of Malta that the Maltese authorities seem to cooperate more with Libyan or Tunisian forces to return migrants to “hardship and suffering”.

“These interceptions and returns often take place within Malta’s search and rescue zone... They [Maltese authorities] are very clearly not carrying out rescue operations in the vast majority of cases,” the spokesperson alleged.

While IRINI’s main task is enforcing the UN arms embargo on Libya, one of its secondary goals is disrupting human smuggling and trafficking networks via intelligence gathering and plane patrols over the Mediterranean.

Malta does not form part of the IRINI mission.

Statistics found in the leak indicate Malta rescued 92 migrants between January and October 2024.

In comparison, migrants rescued by the Italian coastguard during the same period stood at 12,399, the Libyan coastguard rescued 8,179 and NGO boats saved 8,271 people.

The Maltese authorities refused a 2022 freedom of information request by Times of Malta for its rescue statistics, citing national security reasons while dismissing the request as “curiosity”.

A spokesperson for the European Commission declined to comment on leaked documents. 

The spokesperson said the Commission has a clear position when it comes to search and rescue operations. 

"Saving lives at sea is a moral duty, as well as a legal obligation for member states under international law.

"This is done independently from the circumstances which have led people to be in distress at sea," the spokesperson said. 

The spokesperson said all EU countries and all actors involved in search and rescue operations must act in a lawful, swift and coordinated way to make sure that those in distress at sea are brought to safety as rapidly as possible. 

In reaction to the memo, a spokesperson for the home affairs ministry told Times of Malta that all emergency notifications received are investigated, assessed, prioritised and acted upon accordingly, regardless of the provenance or legal status of the persons requiring rescue.

The spokesperson said Malta’s responsibility within its search and rescue zone is to coordinate all search and rescue activities using any available resources, not necessarily its own, which may naturally be farther away.

This is done in coordination with neighbouring rescue centres, particularly the one in Rome, with which Malta engages “positively and proactively on a daily basis”, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said Malta does not participate in IRINI and any conclusions drawn by third parties, particularly those of a personal nature and not reflecting IRINI’s official position, are made unilaterally and without the involvement of a Maltese counterpart.

The spokesperson said IRINI is a maritime security operation and does not facilitate or coordinate communication between competent rescue centres.

“Malta has no information regarding the basis of third-party conclusions made in internal memos, given that it is not a participant in Operation IRINI, was never consulted on related matters, and that IRINI itself is not a rescue coordination centre,” the spokesperson said.

‘Maltese authorities never reply’

A spokesperson for SOS Méditerranée, which earlier this year rescued more than 100 people from Malta’s search and rescue (SAR) zone, said the Maltese authorities “never reply to our calls or emails”.

She said that while the organisation contacted Malta’s rescue coordination centre (RCC) “straightaway” when learning of a boat in distress, it rarely received a response. 

“They rarely pick up the phone, and if they do they tell us to send an e-mail – they never reply to that email. They are really absent from any coordination,” she said. 

The spokesperson said that with Malta’s SAR covering a vast territory – stretching from near the Tunisian coast to Greece’s rescue zone – working with other state authorities such as Italy was less common, “but when we do we get more information”.

Asked if the NGO was aware of Malta carrying out rescues, she said: “It’s not happening; what we’re seeing is Libyan boats intercepting in Malta’s SAR against the international maritime convention.”

The spokesperson said such incidents were “no longer surprising”, adding that such moves were “essentially an illegal pushback”.

She noted that while cooperation on rescues was non-existent, medical evacuations from its vessels, while uncommon, were “usually accepted”, however. Seven-year-old Rahf Alhossain, who was airlifted from an SOS Méditerranée rescue boat earlier this year after suffering cardiac arrest, later died at Mater Dei Hospital.

A spokesperson for NGO Alarm Phone, which provides hotline support for boats in distress, said the Maltese authorities “rarely respond on the phone and, if they do, they do not provide any relevant information”.

He said the organisation referred to Malta’s RCC as a “so-called” rescue coordination centre “as they’re clearly not living up to their name”.

Instead, “it seems the focus of the RCC is really to coordinate returns to places like Libya in cooperation with Libyan or Tunisian forces... to return them [migrants] to hardships and suffering”, he said. 

“These interceptions and returns often take place within Malta’s search and rescue zone... They [Maltese authorities] are very clearly not carrying out rescue operations in the vast majority of cases.”

Charging Maltese authorities of “systematic forms of non-assistance”, he said their actions made it “much more difficult” to coordinate rescues, adding that “any delay can mean the death of dozens or hundreds of people”.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for NGO Sea-Watch, which operates spotter aircraft and rescue vessels in the Mediterranean, said: “Malta does not cooperate with us; if they do pick up the phone, they ignore the information we give them.” 

The spokesperson said that most calls from its spotter aircraft went unanswered, adding Malta’s rescue coordination centre had told the NGO over the phone in the past: “We don’t work with NGOs.” 

The spokesperson noted Malta had in the past attended migrant boats in distress only to provide fuel and supplies to enable them to proceed to other states’ rescue zones or territorial waters.

In January, rescue NGO Sea Punks said that despite “multiple attempts” to contact Maltese authorities about a fibreglass boat in Malta’s SAR with 41 people on board, including five women and six children, it had received no response.