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Several rescue vessels deployed by civil-society organisations were unable to carry out SAR operations following inspections, investigations and, since January 2023, the detention of ships by Italian port authorities.
In other cases, crew members or civil-society actors faced criminal proceedings related to their SAR activities.
Such criminal proceedings, along with administrative measures against deployed vessels – like blocking ships in ports due to technical irregularities relating to maritime security or temporarily detaining them for contravening national law – have a ‘chilling effect’ and intimidate civil-society actors.
Out of the 17 NGO (non-governmental organisation) vessels which were still active on 1 June 2025, 16 vessels were at sea. One vessel was undergoing maintenance.
Concerning reconnaissance aircraft, in May 2024, the Italian Civil Aviation Authority issued five decisions banning civil-society-deployed aircraft from taking off for search operations at sea from five airports in Sicily: Lampedusa, Palermo Bocca di Falco, Palermo Punta Raisi, Pantelleria and Trapani. On 22 May 2024, the NGO Sea-Watch was fined over EUR 2 000 for continuing to fly the Seabird, a fine which was shortly thereafter annulled by the judiciary. No new fines were imposed on aircrafts.
Since 2017, Germany, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Spain have initiated 86 administrative or criminal proceedings affecting SAR operations by civil-society actors. The majority concern measures against SAR vessels; only one out of five measures concern criminal proceedings against the staff working for the NGOs deploying the vessels or against the crew. The table below provides an overview of these measures.
Table – Active and non-active assets deployed by civil society: overview of legal proceedings, 2017 – 1 June 2025, five Member States
|
|
Vessels that faced legal proceedings |
Vessels that faced no legal proceedings |
Aircraft that faced legal proceedings |
Aircraft that faced no legal proceedings |
Total |
|
Active assets (including those under maintenance) |
10 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
20 |
|
Inactive assets |
16 |
10 |
1 |
|
27 |
|
Total assets |
26 |
17 |
3 |
1 |
47 |
Source: FRA (2025) based on public sources and civil-society input.
The Annex lists the ongoing and closed administrative and criminal proceedings against NGO rescue vessels, aircraft and/or their crew members, as reviewed by FRA based on publicly available sources and communication with civil-society actors.
Most closed cases ended with an acquittal, the release of the confiscated or detained vessel or were discontinued due to a lack of evidence. In some cases, NGOs agreed to pay a fine and waited until the authorities allowed their vessel to leave the port.
Since June 2024, five new legal cases have been opened – all in Italy. They involve fines of EUR 3 000–10 000 and the temporary blocking of vessels in ports for periods of 20 or 60 days. Since 2023, most measures against civil-society SAR operations are based on Italy’s Decree-Law No. 1/2023, converted into Law No. 15/2023. This legislation imposes the obligation on SAR vessels to proceed to designated ports, which are often distant from rescue areas. It requires that SAR vessels proceed immediately to the assigned port after each rescue, thereby limiting their ability to rescue other groups of people in distress over the course of several days. The legislation was amended in December 2024, with Decree-Law No. 154/2024, converted into Law No. 187/2024. These amendments impose new reporting obligations on the Italian maritime rescue coordination centre for SAR aircraft, which if not respected, could lead to a fine between EUR 2 000 and 10 000 on the operating entity and the detention of the aircraft. The new rules also reduce the deadline to appeal the administrative detention of vessels and aircraft from 60 to 10 days.
A February 2025 report by SOS Mediterranée illustrates that as a result, in 2023 and 2024, NGO vessels spent an additional 735 days at sea navigating to reach the assigned ports, which corresponds to 27 000 kilometres of navigation. A total of 26 detention orders were imposed on 10 NGO-deployed vessels: 14 orders in 2023 and 12 in 2024. This corresponds to 640 days of detention, of which vessels were blocked at ports for 535 days. A fresh Médecins Sans Frontières report shows how the Italian legislation impacted on the operation of the rescue vessel Geo Barents and describes the intimidating or threatening actions by the Libyan Coast Guard, putting in danger the lives of humanitarian staff and people in distress at sea.
In June 2024, the first national court rulings against the blocking of ships in ports based on Law No. 15/2023 were handed down. Since then, four different Italian courts in Crotone, Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia and Ancona found the blocking of NGO rescue ships at port to be unlawful and annulled the related fines. In October 2024, the Brindisi Tribunal asked the Constitutional Court to assess the compatibility of this legislation with the Italian constitution.
In Greece, deploying SAR vessels in maritime areas the Hellenic Coast Guard is responsible for requires their prior authorisation. After Law No. 4825/2021 was adopted, no civil-society organisation deployed SAR assets. Organisations that act without authorisation may be fined up to EUR 6 000, and each person involved in the mission may be fined up to EUR 1 000. In addition, they may be sanctioned with imprisonment of one year (or of a minimum of three years if their actions cause an accident), without prejudice to stricter penalties based on other applicable provisions (Article 40).
In relation to Malta, in a case involving 32 people stranded near the Miskar gas platform on the border of the Tunisian and Maltese SAR zones, in March 2025, the UN Human Rights Committee issued interim measures evoking Malta’s duties under international law to conduct SAR operations. The individuals were ultimately rescued that same day by Aurora, the rescue vessel operated by Sea-Watch. The UN Human Rights Committee reaffirmed Malta’s duty under Articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to protect the right to life and prevent inhuman treatment, requiring Malta to promptly coordinate rescue and ensure disembarkation in a place of safety.