Athens, 13 November 2025- Throughout October, multiple deadly shipwrecks and violent maritime interceptions were reported near Lesvos and other Aegean islands, resulting in preventable deaths, missing persons, and survivors arriving in severe distress. At the end of the month, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had also denounced the increasing use of administrative and psychological … Read more
Our new vessel, Oyvon, has been refitted and equipped to help save lives on one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. Licata, Italy, 12 November 2025 – International medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced today the relaunch of its lifesaving search and rescue (SAR) activities in the central Mediterranean, almost a … Read more
Rome, 13 December 2024 – The international medical and humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced today that it has ceased operations on board its rescue vessel, Geo Barents, which had been operational since June 2021. Italian laws and policies have made it impossible to continue with the current operational model. MSF will begin a … Read more
Rome, Italy – On 11 September, the Italian Civil Court of Salerno ordered the suspension of the 60-day administrative detention of the Geo Barents, the search and rescue ship operated by Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The Italian authorities had imposed the detention in question on the Geo Barents on 26 August for allegedly failing … Read more
Faced with yet another heartbreaking count, 21 bodies and over 60 missing in just 10 days in the Mediterranean Sea, the institutional silence is shameful. It is a silence that disregards the pain of survivors, a dehumanizing void that is intolerable. There has been no response from the Italian government and European institutions to the … Read more
In the last years, a policy-made crisis has been unfolding across Europe, at its borders, and beyond, which has resulted in a surge in deaths, despair and destitution among people attempting to seek safety and protection within the European Union (EU). Across Europe and beyond, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have been treating the devastating consequences … Read more
By Juan Matías Gil, MSF Search and Rescue Representative “These kinds of tragedies are happening daily in the Mediterranean and at the European borders, right in front of everyone’s eyes. More and more people have been taking the sea to find refuge over the last few days and weeks, and several deadly shipwrecks have occurred, particularly along … 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
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
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