NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has announced it will cease its operations using the boat Geo Barents due to strict Italian laws that have made its operation “impossible”.
The vessel was used by the organisation to ferry migrants from Africa to Europe.
In a press release on December 13, MSF announced that it had “ceased operations on board our search-and-rescue vessel, Geo Barents, which had been operational since June 2021″.
“Italian laws and policies have made it impossible to continue with the current operational model. We will begin a process to evaluate the best operational model for this challenging environment, with a promise to return to search and rescue activities.
“MSF will be back as soon as possible to conduct search-and-rescue operations on one of the deadliest migration routes in the world,” Juan Matias Gil, an MSF representative said.
“We will come back to bear witness and speak out against the violations committed against people on the move by European Union member states, particularly by Italy, and the other actors in the area.”
Geo Barents transferred more than 12,675 people to Italy in 190 operations, the NGO said.
In the past two years, MSF submitted five individual complaints to the European Commission, inviting it to examine the restrictions in the light of EU law, so far without success, it added.
❗MSF has been forced to end operations on our rescue vessel, Geo Barents, due to restrictive Italian laws and policies.
Since June 2021, the ship saved 12,675 lives in the Central Mediterranean. pic.twitter.com/fIZziMzb8q
— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) December 13, 2024
Since Italian Prime Minster Giorgia Meloni, who had run for the role on the promise of tackling illegal migration to her country, came to power in October 2022, new laws to block migrant ships have been created.
Over the past two years, the Geo Barents has faced 160 days of port detention, obstructing its efforts to rescue and bring in more migrants.
Starting earlier December this year, Italy has made it easier and faster to confiscate migrant boats.
According to the Conservative Italian Government, NGO boats worsen the migrant crisis because they drop people in already oversaturated ports, such as Lampedusa. It has instructed them to go to other ports further north.
NGO’s have claimed this hindered their work and costs human lives.
“Italy’s laws and policies express genuine disregard for the lives of the people crossing the Mediterranean,” Margot Bernard, MSF project co-ordinator said.
“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.
“When the European deterrence policies cause so much suffering and cost so many lives, we have the duty to persist in favour of humanity,” she added.
Every year, countless migrants attempt the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to reach Europe, a route that has claimed thousands of lives.
Critics of NGO rescue boats have argued that their efforts inadvertently encourage more people to undertake the crossing by raising hopes of reaching Europe.
This, they contended, not only lead to mass casualties at sea but also empowered human smugglers, who profit enormously from their illegal activities.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been pushing heavily for a military blockade in the Mediterranean since the recent arrival of thousands of migrants on the island of Lampedusa. https://t.co/S4JxsBBBdJ
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 21, 2023
