UN Human Rights Committee Again Orders Malta to Rescue more than 100 People Stranded on the Miskar Platform
Joint statement
Joint statement
20 March 2026
Rome, 19 March 2026- For the second time in just over a year, UpRights and StraLi - this time together with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Pro Iura - have obtained urgent interim measures from the United Nations Human Rights Committee against Malta for its failure to rescue people in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The Committee's decision, issued today, requires Malta to immediately coordinate a search and rescue (SAR) operation for more than 100 people, including women and children, who have been stranded on the Miskar gas platform and a nearby boat in the Maltese SAR region since 15 March 2026. This is also the third time in less than twelve months that the UN Human Rights Committee has granted such interim measures in a case of distress at sea in the Central Mediterranean.
On 14 March 2026, the emergency hotline Alarm Phone was alerted of two rubber boats in distress that had departed from Zuwara, Libya, earlier that morning carrying a total of estimated 118 people, including women and children. Although Alarm Phone relayed the alerts, among others, to the Maltese and Italian authorities, none of the authorities took over coordination of the search and rescue operation.
Contact with the boats was lost on the night of 14 March. On 16 March, it was confirmed by Miskar platform personnel that the two boats had approached the platform on 15 March and that the people on board had climbed onto it. Most people were now stranded on the industrial structure but a small number of them were still on a vessel attached to the platform, with no food, water, and exposed to severe weather conditions. With no SAR operation being coordinated, and the lives of so many people at imminent and serious risk, UpRights, StraLi, MSF and Pro Iura filed an urgent request for interim measures with the UN Human Rights Committee on 17 March 2026, urging Malta to take all measures necessary to coordinate a SAR operation and ensure that the people in distress at sea are disembarked as soon as possible in the closest place of safety.
“The consistent failure of states to fulfill their obligations under the law of the sea is one of the main factors contributing to the alarmingly high mortality in the Central Mediterranean”, says Juan Matias Gil from MSF. “In the absence of proactive state-led search and rescue mechanism, NGOs are stepping in to fill the void and we call on coastal states to assume their SAR duties as a matter of urgency”.
As noted above, the people had departed from Zuwara, Libya, on two unseaworthy rubber boats before becoming stranded on the Miskar gas platform - located in the Gulf of Gabès, in international waters within the overlap of the Maltese and Tunisian search and rescue regions. “The people stranded on the platform had been at sea for a long time and on the Miskar platform already since 15th March,” explains a representative of Alarm Phone. “The platform provided basic food and water, but people were forced to sleep on the floor in harsh weather conditions. The platform’s doctor informed us that among those stranded, 14 were suffering from flu, one person had sustained chemical burns from fuel contact, and one woman was pregnant. Among the group were also one child of 10 years old and two babies of 2 years old.” On 19 March 2026, the rescue vessel Ocean Viking, operated by SOS Mediterranee, finally rescued the persons.
The submission to the UN Human Rights Committee was made on behalf of those hundred or so persons in distress, urging the Committee to issue interim measures requiring Malta to prevent imminent and irreparable harm to the right to life and the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment (Articles 6 and 7) enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Today, 19 March 2026 at 10:32 (CET), the UN Human Rights Committee granted the request and ordered Malta to coordinate a SAR operation to rescue the persons in distress and “to ensure that they are not disembarked in a place where they will be at risk of torture and other forms of ill-treatment or risk to their life”. The decision by the Committee is legally binding and also requests Malta to inform them about the measures taken.
“Interim measures issued by the UN Human Rights Committee represent one of the last available and urgent instrument to prompt States to coordinate SAR missions and save lives at sea, where people risk death or other forms of ill-treatment”, say Chiara Amitrano and Benedetta Perego from StraLi. “In this critical historical moment, they are essential to pressure States into upholding their international law obligations,” added UpRights’ Co-Director Valérie Gabard.
Nonetheless, the present case is not an isolated incident. It is part of a well-documented, systematic pattern of non-assistance by European states that has been documented by numerous international and civil society organisations over many years.
In March 2025, UpRights and StraLi, together with SOS Humanity, had already obtained the very first interim measures ever issued by the UN Human Rights Committee in a case of distress at sea. On that similar occasion, the Committee instructed Malta to coordinate the rescue of 32 people who had been stranded for four days near the same Miskar platform. Malta did not respond to any communication and took no action, despite the Committee’s legally binding order. The individuals were ultimately rescued by Aurora, the rescue vessel of Sea-Watch. In September 2025, the Committee granted a further set of interim measures - this time in a case filed by Sea-Watch - requiring both Malta and Italy to coordinate the rescue of 41 survivors stranded on a gas platform supply vessel for seven days. The present case now brings the total number of Committee decisions to three in under twelve months, all concerning the same stretch of sea, the same legal obligations, and the same pattern of alleged State inaction.
++
Press contacts:
Photo credit: Ville Maali/SOS MEDITERRANEE
Credits
Interactive map and data visualisations developed by Code for Africa, with additional support from the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
Made with
