Assessing Italy’s international responsibility for human rights violations and trafficking risks under the Italy-Libya memorandum of understanding. A case of Nigerian women

Abstract

The externalization of migration control has become one of the most recurrent strategies that European countries use to manage irregular migrant flows. Through cooperation agreements with third countries, States transfer to external authorities the search and rescue operation that, if carried out directly, would generate accountability under international human rights law. The Memorandum of Understanding, concluded between Italy and Libya in 2017, constitutes an example of this tendency: by funding, equipping and coordinating the Libyan Coast Guard, Italy has created a system that systematically pushes migrants back to Libya before they are able to reach Italian territory. This agreement has serious and documented consequences for Nigerian women, who constitute one of the biggest groups of potential victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation among the migrants that try to reach Italy. The recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case S.S. and Others against Italy delivered in June 2025, by declaring the complaint of survivors of this system inadmissible due to a lack of Italy’s jurisdiction, raised questions about the capacity of international law to hold a State accountable for deliberately externalizing its protection obligations. The present thesis is situated within this context. By adopting a doctrinal approach that articulates human rights international law, refugee law, law of the sea and anti-trafficking law, this thesis seeks to contribute to the debate about States’ international responsibility in the context of externalization of migration management policies, highlighting the specific accountability of States under anti-trafficking documents and the impact of this agreement on Nigerian women victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.