The MSF team on board the Geo Barents cleans, disinfects, and dries the hundreds of life jackets used during rescue operations. Central Mediterranean Sea, 7 December 2024.

International aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said it has ceased search and rescue operations for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea using its Geo Barents vessel because Italian laws have made it impossible.

The Geo Barents had been operational since June 2021 and was detained on multiple occasions by Italian authorities over allegations that it aides illegal migration. The charity group has since denied such accusation, stating that it only works to save lives.

In a press statement on December 13, MSF said Italian laws and policies have made it impossible to continue with the current operational model for now, adding that it will return to operation after evaluating its 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,” it said.

MSF said it remains committed towards people on the move, especially those taking the dangerous journey across the Central Mediterranean Sea, a route where over 31,000 people have died or gone missing since 2014.

“MSF will be back as soon as possible to conduct search and rescue operations on one of the deadliest migration routes in the world,” says Juan Matias Gil, MSF search and rescue representative.

“We will come back to bear witness and speak out against the violations committed against people on the move by EU members states, particularly by Italy, and the other actors in the area.”

Thousands of African migrants try to reach Europe using Libya as a departing point, as they brave a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to escape war and poverty.

The central Mediterranean route remains the world’s most dangerous crossing. In 2023, more than 3,000 people went missing on this route, according to the International Organization for Migration.

MSF has been active and engaged in search and rescue activities in the Central Mediterranean Sea since 2015, working on eight different vessels (alone or in partnership with other NGOs) and rescuing more than 94,000 people.

Since launching search and rescue operations on board Geo Barents in May 2021, MSF said its teams have rescued more than 12,675 people, recovered the bodies of 24 people, arranged for medical evacuation of 4 people, and assisted in the delivery of one baby.

In the past two years, the rescue vessel faced four sanctions by the Italian authorities, imposing a total of 160 days detention in port.

“These sanctions only served to punish the vessel for merely fulfilling the humanitarian and legal duty to save lives at sea,” it contended.

The aid group said it has exhausted all legal channels and appealed the punitive sanctions and the distant port practice in Italian courts, successfully obtaining two suspensions of 60-day detention orders.

MSF and other NGOs have also submitted five individual complaints to the European Commission, urging it to examine the restrictions in light of EU law, which have been unsuccessful so far.