MSF's Rescue Ship Freed: A Battle Against Italy's Policies

Medecins Sans Frontieres' migrant rescue ship Geo Barents was released after being detained by Italy's government for allegedly failing to coordinate during a rescue mission. The 60-day detention was the longest on record. MSF President Christos Christou criticized the Italian government's restrictive policies on NGO sea rescues, suggesting they overlooked unreported deaths and led migrants to find alternative routes to Europe.

The international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders - MSF) on Wednesday secured the release of its migrant rescue ship, which had been grounded for two weeks by Italy's right-wing government.

MSF's Geo Barents vessel had been handed a 60-day detention order, the longest on record, for allegedly failing to properly coordinate with Italian and Libyan authorities while picking up migrants off Libya on August 23. A court in Salerno, the southern Italian port where the vessel was moored, suspended the measure, the charity announced on X.

"The ship is free to rescue lives!" MSF said. The detention order was the third against the vessel and the longest to date. MSF International President Christos Christou traveled to Salerno to support the organization's appeal against it.

"At this exact moment, the Mediterranean is a huge emergency room and Geo Barents and the doctors are sitting in a corner with their hands tied," Christou told Reuters, accusing the government of obstructing humanitarian sea rescues. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has enacted legislation to curb NGO activities in the Mediterranean, including impounding vessels or forcing them to travel long distances to disembark migrants, thereby increasing fuel costs.

Christou dismissed government charges against the MSF ship, saying it had been waiting for instructions as it approached a migrant boat, and spontaneously rescued passengers after they jumped into the sea. Meloni has defended her approach, pledging at a cabinet meeting last month to launch another crackdown on migrant work permits, and noted that the decrease in sea arrivals under her administration resulted in fewer migrant drownings.

"The only way to prevent further tragedies at sea is to stop departures and fight unscrupulous traffickers," she said. The MSF chief argued that Meloni's claims overlooked the fact that many deaths at sea go unreported and suggested that migrants blocked en route to Italy would still reach Europe via other pathways.

In the year to date, around 44,500 migrants have arrived by sea in Italy; approximately 1,100 people have drowned or gone missing. Year-on-year, arrivals are down 62%, while fatalities have decreased by about 50%. As part of its deterrence strategy, Meloni's government is also constructing detention camps in Albania for intercepted migrants. The plan, which has faced delays and criticism from human rights advocates, is expected to be operational within weeks.

Christou expressed "serious concerns" about the initiative, calling it "another new way of externalizing the duty of the Italians and Europeans" to assist people fleeing from poverty or conflict.

(With inputs from agencies.)