International-News

MSF’s Geo Barents ends operations in the central Mediterranean due to new Italian laws

After rescuing more than 12,000 people in two years, Doctors Without Borders suspends missions in the central Mediterranean, denouncing the impact of Italian regulations on humanitarian operations

The Geo Barents, a search and rescue ship of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has officially ended its operations in the central Mediterranean. Since June 2021, the ship has rescued more than 12,675 people through 190 rescue operations, but the organisation has announced that the tightening of Italian regulations, in particular the Piantedosi decree, has made it impossible to continue operations. Mission leader Juan Matias Gil stressed that MSF would soon return to the sea to continue saving lives in one of the world’s deadliest migration routes.

The penalties received by the ship, four in two years for a total of 160 days of administrative detention, undermined MSF’s ability to operate effectively. The assignment of distant ports for the disembarkation of migrants, more than 1,000 km from the rescue sites, drastically reduced the time the Geo Barents could devote to rescue missions. Margot Bernard, MSF project coordinator, denounced the Italian authorities’ disregard for the lives of migrants, expressing the organisation’s duty to continue to stand up for humanity in the face of such policies.

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