Rome, 19 March 2024 – Over the weekend of March 16-17, the Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders’s (MSF) team on board the rescue vessel Geo Barents witnessed two violent incidents involving the European Union (EU) funded Libyan Coast Guard that deliberately endangered the lives of hundreds of people seeking safety. MSF calls on the EU … Read more
Rome, 22 November 2023 – With almost 2,200 children, women, and men reported missing or dead in the Central Mediterranean this year, 2023 has already earned the unenviable record of being the deadliest year on this migration route since 2017. In its new report, No one came to our rescue, the international medical organisation Doctors … Read more
Today, the European Parliament, representing the citizens of the EU, adopted a Resolution on the need for the European Union to step up its efforts in saving lives at sea and to invest in proactive state-led search and rescue activities. We call upon the European Commission and EU States to take this call from the … Read more
Brussels, 13 July, 2023 – Five leading Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have submitted a complaint to the European Commission (EC) about Italian Law 15/2023 and the practice by Italian authorities of assigning ports distant from the area where the rescue took place, to disembark people from humanitarian search and rescue vessels. The NGOs submitting the complaint … Read more
30 June, 2023 – Following the shipwreck of 14 June which left up to 500 people dead or missing off the coast of Greece, international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) denounces EU migration policies and calls for accountability over the lives lost and for a dedicated, proactive, state-led search and rescue mechanism … Read more
We, civil organisations engaged in search and rescue (SAR) activities in the central Mediterranean Sea, express our gravest concerns regarding the latest attempt by a European government to obstruct assistance to people in distress at sea. A new law decree, signed by the Italian President on 2 January 2023, will reduce rescue capacities at sea … Read more
Central Mediterranean, 9 December 2022 – At 11:31 on Wednesday 7th December, little *Ali entered the world on board the Geo Barents, a search and rescue vessel chartered by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). His mother, Fatima*, gave birth in the small medical clinic on board, after hours of difficult labour. The pain began while she … Read more
In this summer season, SOS Mediterranee, MSF and Sea-Watch urgently call for the provision of European state-led search and rescue maritime assets in the central Mediterranean to prevent more deaths. Within five days, Geo Barents, a search and rescue ship operated by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and Ocean Viking a search and rescue ship chartered … Read more
One year of operations in the Central Mediterranean have passed by, this time with the Geo Barents – Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) vessel – rescuing 3,138 people and conducting 6,536 medical consultations before disembarking in a place of safety in Europe. Following last week’s tragic rescue, the sad reality at the Southern European border has … Read more
Hundreds of lives are being lost in the Central Mediterranean Sea while humanitarian NGO vessels are detained, warns Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), as the Geo Barents becomes the latest NGO ship to be held by Italian port authorities. MSF calls upon the Italian authorities to swiftly facilitate the release of our search and rescue ship, to enable its return to … Read more