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On Wednesday 11 September 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs provided information on the Luxembourg helicopter contribution in recent years to joint operations coordinated by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex.
The press release comes in light of the news that investigative journalist Charlotte Wirth (with the support of the ALJP professional journalists association) is taking legal action against the Ministry of Home Affairs, after being denied access to certain documents during her research on the subject.
The ministry noted that the Luxembourg government has been contributing an aerial surveillance helicopter to joint operations coordinated by Frontex since 2017 and is "actively involved" in rescuing migrants in distress in the Mediterranean. This mission is entrusted to Luxembourg Air Ambulance (LAA), whose helicopter participated in 49 rescue missions between 2017 and 2023. In 2024, activities included the rescue of 59 migrants off the Italian coast near Lampedusa in March 2024 and support for the detection of migrant boats in distress in eight other cases.
The Luxembourg authorities are informed daily of the activities of the helicopter made available to Frontex. The ministry added that the helicopter is not involved in incidents that would have resulted in violations of the fundamental rights of migrants on board the boats spotted by the helicopter.
Moreover, the ministry clarified that the Luxembourg helicopter is made available to the Italian authorities and Frontex as part of the joint operation in Italy. Its mission is not to patrol the Tunisian coast or to communicate with the Tunisian coastguard, it said. Information concerning the sightings made by the helicopter is relayed "exclusively" and "in a secure manner" to the International Coordination Centre of the joint operation based in Rome. This information is relayed to the Italian or Maltese Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres, depending on the position of the boat in distress. Marine very high frequency (VHF) radio exchanges take place exclusively with the Italian authorities and only as needed to guide the Italian Coast Guard or the Guardia di Finanza to the location of the spotting, the statement added.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said that it had not responded to journalist Charlotte Wirth's requests for access to documents given the "sensitive" nature of this information, covered by the amended law of 14 September 2018 on transparent and open administration. The ministry said it acknowledges her appeal filed on Tuesday 10 September 2024.
The ministry also argued that certain "factual elements" from its written response to the journalist had not been included in the resulting article, published on Reporter.lu on Tuesday.
