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
Four people – one man, two women, and a child – lost their lives in a deadly shipwreck off the coast of Tsilia, Gera in southern Lesvos on the morning of October 7. The tragedy left 34 survivors in severe distress. MSF medical team conducted 34 assessments, providing treatment for injuries and psychological first aid … Read more
Rome, 12 June 2025 – The orchestrated removal of search and rescue (SAR) ships, such as the Geo Barents, from the Central Mediterranean cuts a lifeline for survivors fleeing horrendous violence in Libya. This is the conclusion of an advocacy report released today by the international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). … 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
Seven years of falsehoods swept away, but attacks continue. Saving lives is not a crime. Rome, April 19, 2024 – After seven years of false accusations, defamatory statements, and a blatant criminalisation campaign towards organisations performing search and rescue operations at sea, the investigation launched by the prosecutor’s office in Trapani, Sicily in late 2016 … Read more
Geo Barents, the search and rescue ship operated by international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has been issued a detention order for 20 days by the Italian authorities for allegedly failing to comply with instructions issued by the Libyan Coast Guard and endangering the lives of survivors during a rescue operation in … 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