Detention on MSF rescue ship is suspended by Italian court
September 16, 2024Rome, 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...
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Tragic shipwreck off the Italian coast: Flash quote from Marco Bertotto, Head of Operations MSF Italy
June 19, 2024Faced 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...
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Charges against rescues at sea dropped. Saving lives is not a crime.
April 19, 2024Seven 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...
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MSF rescue ship detained in Italy following threats by Libyan Coast Guard
March 26, 2024Geo 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...
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Death, despair and destitution: The human costs of the EU’s migration policies
February 20, 2024In 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...
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MSF: “We call upon the European Commission and EU States to urgently invest in life-saving rescue capacities”
July 14, 2023Today, 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....
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Non-Governmental Organisations urge European Commission to put under scrutiny Italian law restricting search and rescue activities at sea
July 13, 2023Brussels, 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...
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MSF: EU policies are killing people as they search for safety
July 8, 202330 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...
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New decree obstructs lifesaving rescue efforts at sea and will cause more deaths
January 5, 2023We, 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...
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SOS Mediterranee, MSF and Sea-Watch alert on the critical risk of more deaths in the central Mediterranean this summer in the absence of European state led search and rescue operations
August 3, 2022In 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...
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MSF requests the revocation of the Geo Barents’ detention
July 24, 2021On 23 July MSF officially requested the release of its ship the Geo Barents from three weeks of detention after having responded to all requests made by the Italian Maritime Authority, which on 2 July identified 22 deficiencies leading to...
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MSF is determined to return to sea to save lives after Geo Barents detained in Italy
July 5, 2021Hundreds 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...
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