MSF has announced it will cease migrant rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean due to "absurd laws". But it has vowed its Geo Barents ship will return to sea.
The search and rescue vessel of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) organization, Geo Barents, has stopped its operations in the Central Mediterranean. Despite having rescued over 12,675 people and conducted 190 rescue operations since June 2021, MSF said in a December 13 statement that: "After careful consideration, we have come to the conclusion that it is untenable to operate the Geo Barents under such absurd and senseless Italian laws and policies."
The large vessel can fit up to 600 people on board.
Vincent Cochetel, the UNHCR's special envoy for the Western and Central Mediterranean situation, warned on the X platform that the consequences of reduced rescue capacity were unknown.
MSF noted that over 31,000 people have died or gone missing since 2014 in the Central Mediterranean.
The Piantedosi Decree, a law that was introduced by the Italian government at the beginning of 2023, imposed harsh restrictions on search and rescue organizations. In December 2024, Italy further intensified the severity of sanctions by making it easier and faster to confiscate humanitarian search and rescue vessels.
Despite this, the charity said its absence will be temporary. "MSF will be back as soon as possible to conduct search and rescue operations on one of the deadliest migration routes in the world," the statement quoted Juan Matias Gil, MSF search and rescue representative, as saying.
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160 days of suspension for Geo Barents in two years
"We will come back to bear witness and speak out against the violations committed against people on the move by EU member states, particularly by Italy, and the other actors in the area," Gil added.
"In the past two years, Geo Barents faced four sanctions by the Italian authorities, imposing a total of 160 days of detention in port. These sanctions only served to punish the vessel for merely fulfilling the humanitarian and legal duty to save lives at sea," the statement added.
"The practice of Italian authorities to assign distant ports, frequently in the north, to disembark people rescued at sea has further undermined the capacity of the Geo Barents to save lives at sea and be present where it is needed the most," it continued.
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Piantedosi Decree criticised for assigning ports far away
"Since the implementation of the Piantedosi Decree, the Geo Barents has spent half a year navigating to and back from distant ports instead of assisting people in distress," the statement noted.
In June 2023 the Italian authorities instructed the ship to head to La Spezia, in the north of Italy, to disembark 13 survivors. This amounted to navigating more than 1,000 kilometres, despite the availability of much closer ports, MSF said.
"Italy's laws and policies express genuine disregard for the lives of the people crossing the Mediterranean. The stories of tens of thousands of survivors are echoed everywhere on the Geo Barents. Babies have taken their first steps on these decks; people have mourned their loved ones," Margot Bernard, MSF project coordinator, said.
"During the two years since the implementation of the Piantedosi Decree, MSF has exhausted all legal channels and appealed the punitive sanctions and the distant port practice in Italian courts, successfully obtaining two suspensions of 60-day detention orders," the statement concluded.
"MSF and other NGOs have also submitted five individual complaints to the European Commission, urging it to examine the restrictions in light of EU law, which have been unsuccessful so far."