ACTIVIST-RUN refugee rescue organisations have saved more than 175,000 lives in the central Mediterranean since 2015 — despite growing harassment from the EU and member-state governments.

SOS Humanity said today that over the last 10 years 175,595 people were saved by “the civil fleet,” as the NGO rescue organisations are collectively known — consisting of 15 rescue vessels, seven sailing ships and four reconnaissance aeroplanes.

But at least 28,932 people have died or disappeared while fleeing across the Mediterranean, the civil fleet organisations said in a press release marking the tenth anniversary since they began providing emergency assistance.

“For 10 years, we as civil society have refused to accept that refugees crossing the central Mediterranean are left to die for the sake of sealing off Europe,” SOS Humanity’s political spokesperson Mirka Schafer said.

“The EU and its member states have failed to fulfil their duty to provide for a state-coordinated search-and-rescue programme on this deadly migration route.

“Since 2015 we non-governmental organisations have been trying to fill the rescue gap. However, the conditions for our work are becoming increasingly difficult, and the obstruction of our rescue fleet by government measures is escalating.”

When Italy’s government swung to the far right in 2017 the country’s maritime authorities went from welcoming the civil fleet to actively trying to stop them.

For years, the Italian authorities have tried to block ports to NGO ships following rescues and even tried to criminalise rescuers. But in 2023, the Italian government changed tack.

It now allows NGO ships to bring the rescued ashore but orders them to sail to ports in the far north of Italy, minimising the number of ships in the search-and-rescue area and costing them thousands of euros in fuel costs. The authorities also hold the ships up in port for months on end if the new rules aren’t followed exactly.

The groups estimate that Italy’s distant ports policy has cost them 761 operational days and 300,000 additional kilometres at sea.

“As long as there is no European-coordinated sea rescue programme, thousands of people will continue to die trying to reach the EU — or remain trapped in a horrific cycle of violence in Libya,” said Giulia Messmer, a spokesperson for the rescue organisation Sea-Watch.

“After 10 years of civilian sea rescue in the Mediterranean, we know: This situation is no coincidence. It is politically desired — and it can be ended by the EU Commission.”