Detention on MSF rescue ship is suspended by Italian court

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 to provide timely information to the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC).

The court’s suspension order was based on the evidence provided by MSF in an appeal. The judge recognised that the Geo Barents had not contributed to creating any dangerous situation on board, as alleged previously in the detention order. On the contrary, according to the court, the rescue operation which the MSF team launched was both urgent and unavoidable. The court also acknowledged that the Libyan Coast Guard, which was on scene, had been informed in advance, when the rescue operation was happening in international waters.

The court ruled that the request by the Libyan Coast Guard for the Geo Barents to leave the rescue area could not be considered as coordination of the rescue operation, as no guidance was given on how that operation should be carried out. Furthermore, the court emphasised that enforcing the 60-day detention would irreversibly jeopardise the right of the ship to pursue its humanitarian objectives in accordance with the international laws and Italian constitutional values.

Editor’s Note:

The detention order was issued following several rescue operations that took place very early morning of 23 August 2024 in the Central Mediterranean. On that day, the team conducted 5 separate rescue operations, saving a total of 191 people who were in distress.

To date, there have been twenty-four instances of a humanitarian rescue ship, including the Geo Barents, being detained since the enforcement of the Italian decree-law known as the 'Piantedosi Decree' in early 2023.

MSF has been active in search and rescue activities since 2015, working on eight different rescue vessels (alone or in partnership with other NGOs) and having rescued more than 91,000 people. Since launching search and rescue operations on board Geo Barents in May 2021, MSF teams have rescued more than 12,300 people, recovered the bodies of 24 people, arranged for medical evacuation of 4 people and assistedin the delivery of one baby.