Mediterranean Sea 2022 @ Candida Lobes/MSF

International medical aid group MSF said it has appealed a 60-day detention by Italy of its Geo Barents, a search and rescue ship that patrols the Mediterranean Sea to save migrants attempting to cross to Europe.

The organization, which goes by its French initials as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said the Italian authorities issued the detention order against the ship on August 27 for alleged violations of maritime safety regulations.

This followed several rescue operations that took place on 23 August in the Central Mediterranean, where the Geo Barents is alleged to have failed to provide timely information to the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and to have endangered people’s lives.

MSF refuted these allegations, which it said are based on information provided by the Libyan Coast Guard, which works to prevent migrants from reaching the EU’s borders.

Juan Matias, the organization’s search and rescue representative, said the Libyan Coast Guard, whom the Italian authorities consider a reliable actor, has been “documented and accused of complicity in serious human rights violations in Libya, amounting to crimes against humanity at sea.”

On Sunday, MSF said in a statement on X that its legal team filed an appeal at the Civil Court of Salerno, Italy, to contest the “unjust” detention of the Geo Barents.

“We can prove that we have always fulfilled our duty to save lives in line with international regulations.”

The organization said 44 people have died in two shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean off the Libyan and Italian coasts as of September 5, adding to over 1,300 people who have died or gone missing in 2024.

On Sunday, Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, said she was concerned about the detention of the rescue ship in Italy.

“In May, I wrote to the government expressing serious concern at this pattern. Baseless accusations against HRDs saving lives at sea and ships being detained lead to lives lost. This must end,” she said in a post on X.

In a statement on August 27, MSF said the Geo Barents has been unable to conduct rescues in the Mediterranean due to the aforementioned detention.

The organization added that this will further exacerbate the already insufficient search and rescue capacity at sea, making the Central Mediterranean—one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes—even more deadly.

MSF said it 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 said its teams have rescued more than 12,300 people, recovered the bodies of 24 people, arranged for medical evacuation of 4 people, and assisted in the delivery of one baby.