28/08/2024 – 16/09/2024

  • On 11 September, the MSF Geo Barents boat was authorized to return to the sea after being blocked for 16 days, and to resume its rescue operations following a decision of the Salerno court. On the same day, the president of MSF accused the Italian authorities of criminalizing the NGOs in Mediterranean.
  • On 8 September, 60 migrants arrived in Lampedusa after being rescued by Frontex. The first boat carried 22 people from Bangladesh, Syria and Sudan, while the second boat carried 38 people from Bangladesh, Syria, Morocco and Egypt.
  • On 4 September, 7 Syrians were rescued by the Italian coastguard near Lampedusa after leaving Libya 3 days earlier; the other 21 passengers are missing, including at least 3 children. Later in the week, the NGO Sea Watch revealed that it had reported the distressed boat two days prior to the shipwreck via its reconnaissance aircraft. However, the relevant authorities did not intervene.
  • On 2 September, 129 people were rescued by the NGO ResQship on the mediterranean and brought to Italian soil. Many of them were injured after inhaling fuel smoke for hours.
  • On 31 August, 289 people were rescued by the German NGO Sea Watch in four separate operations in the international waters off the coast of Libya. Among the rescued were 38 children and minors. On 3 September, after disembarking the passengers, Sea Watch-5 was detained for 20 days and fined 10,000 euros, falsely accused by the Italian authorities of having rescued some people in Libyan waters.
  • On 29 August, Altereconomia revealed that the Italian government had earmarked 16 million euros for the construction of two new detention centers in 2024 to hold asylum seekers subject to the accelerated border procedure provided for by the so-called “Cutro decree”.