Yet again, Italian authorities punish MSF rescue ship with two detention orders

Rome, Italy - On 23 September 2024, the Italian authorities imposed yet another punitive measure on the Geo Barents, the search and rescue vessel operated by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for performing its legal and humanitarian duty to save lives at sea. This time, the vessel received two separate detention orders, immediately after the Geo Barents had finished disembarking 206 survivors in Genoa, in a clear attempt by the authorities to ensure that the Geo Barents will not be able to sail again to save lives in the Mediterranean.

The first detention order for 60 days was issued under the “Piantedosi Decree”¹ and was based on the recurrent allegations that the Geo Barents had failed to comply with instructions of the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) during a rescue operation on 19 September 2024. On that day, the Geo Barents received a distress alert from Sea-Watch monitoring plane, Seabird 2, about 100 people in distress on an overcrowded wooden boat. The Geo Barents was given the go-ahead by the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) to assess the situation and was the only vessel on scene when it arrived. Given the seriousness of the situation and the captain's obligation under international law to render immediate assistance, the MSF team proceeded with the rescue.

Just as the MSF team was about to finish the rescue, with no more than 20 people left in the boat out of 110, a LCG patrol boat², donated by Italy, arrived on the scene. “The Libyan patrol boat arrived when we were almost finished with the operation, more than five hours after the first alert about these people in distress. They arrived, threatened to shoot and carried out unsafe and intimidating manoeuvres around the people in distress and the MSF rescue team,” said Fulvia Conte, MSF search and rescue team leader.

This is the fourth detention order for Geo Barents under the "Piantedosi decree", following the one issued a month ago, also for 60 days, which was later suspended by the Civil Court of Salerno. 

Besides that, the second detention order issued on 23 September followed a very in-depth Port State Control (PSC) inspection of the vessel, which found eight technical deficiencies. “The Port State Control inspections are another layer of administrative and technical instrumentalisation of laws and regulations that the authorities have been using for the past seven years to obstruct the work of humanitarian search and rescue vessels in the Mediterranean," added Conte. “Our vessel had successfully passed previous inspections; this one seems to have the intention to ensure we don’t operate anytime soon. We are moving to quickly address these deficiencies and to go back to prevent deaths at sea.”

The most recent detention came just 12 days after the Court of Salerno suspended a similar detention, acknowledging the lifesaving and humanitarian nature of MSF’s search and rescue vessel. 

“We will appeal to the competent court against these new detentions. The more Italian courts rule in favour of humanitarian vessels, the more arbitrary detentions are imposed by this Italian government. This is unacceptable for a country under the rule of law," said Juan Matias Gil, MSF search and rescue representative. 

"People fleeing Libya often tell us about the violent interceptions at sea carried out by the EU-backed Libyan Coast Guard. It has been documented not only by the United Nations, but also by independent investigative journalism, that the LCG is complicit in serious human rights violations, amounting to crimes against humanity, and collusion with smugglers and traffickers," added Gil. "It is a disgrace that the Italian authorities still consider the LCG to be a reliable actor and source of information". 

¹ "Piantedosi Decree", an Italian decree-law introduced in early 2023, which stipulates, among other things, that non-governmental rescue ships must immediately sail to the assigned port after the first rescue

² Model number PB301

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 12,540 people, recovered the bodies of 24 people, arranged for medical evacuation of 16 people and assisted in the delivery of one baby.