No More Civilian Rescue Boats Off Libya

Civilian rescue vessel Sea Watch 3, which was detained in Sicily on Friday, is the latest in a long list of such ships that have been forced or have chosen to stop their work.

Currently only the Libyan coastguard is able to save those migrants floundering in their attempts to reach Europe across the central Mediterranean. 

Here is a status review of migrant rescue ship organisations:

- Gave up -

The main charities trying to rescue migrants off the coast of Libya stopped their efforts in the summer of 2017, after departure numbers fell and the Libyan coastguard intensified threats against the boats they consider accomplices of people smugglers.

Maltese aid group MOAS, which was the first to carry out migrant rescue operations in 2014 and had deployed two vessels, transferred its activities to helping the Rohingya in Bangladesh in September 2017.

Around the same time, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) ended its operations with the Vos Prudence, the largest private vessel deployed off Libya with a record 1,500 people rescued at the same time.

Save the Children ended its search and rescue operations with the Vos Hestia in October 2017. 

- Stopped -

In August 2017, Italian authorities impounded the Juventa, operated by small German aid group Jugend Rettet, after it was accused of helping Libyan human traffickers. The aid group denies the charge.

The Lifeline rescue vessel operated by a German aid group of the same name was impounded on arrival in Valletta, Malta, in June 2018, for alleged registration issues.

Aid groups SOS Mediterranee and MSF stopped search and rescue operations with the Aquarius in December after it was stuck in a French port for two months following the revocation of its registration.

Spain's Proactiva Open Arms in January slammed the authorities' decision to keep the Open Arms ship in Barcelona harbour. The boat was impounded for a month by Italy in early 2018. It was then forced to take rescued migrants to Spain several times after Malta and Italy refused to allow them to disembark.

- Persevering -

The Sea Eye charity from Germany had several vessels impounded during 2018 but deployed another ship, the Professor Albrecht Penck, in December, rescuing 12 migrants. The boat is currently in Majorca and plans to set sail again in around two weeks.

SOS Mediteranee has said it is looking for another boat and flag so it can continue search and rescue operations.

In Italy a collective of associations launched the Mediterranea, flying an Italian flag, mainly to witness the situation for migrants off Libya.

There are also two light aircraft, the Colibri operated by French aid group Pilotes Volontaires and the Moonbird operated by Sea Watch, which overfly the Mediterranean seeking to identify and locate migrant-carrying boats in trouble.