13/02/2023 – 07/03/2023

• The Italian court of Catania ruled in favor of the search and rescue NGO SOS Humanity, declaring unlawful the ban from stopping in Italian waters that was imposed on the rescue ship in November 2022. The decree issued by the Italian government stipulated that only the migrants most in need of protection among those that the SOS Humanity had rescue at sea would be allowed disembark in the port of Catania. The Court ruled that the provision discriminatorily hindered migrants’ right to rescue and access to the asylum procedure. The ruling has been hailed as a “win” for sea rescue organisations, whose activities are being increasingly hijacked and criminalised by Italian authorities.

26/01/2023 – 13/02/2023

• The Expert Council on NGO Law under the Council of Europe issued its opinion on a controversial Italian Decree Law of 2 January 2023, which relates to search and rescue operations. The Expert Council found that the Decree raises procedural and substantive difficulties with respect to freedom of association and the protection of civil society space. Among other measures, the Decree Law limits the number of rescues that private vessels can perform in a single deployment at sea. It does so by forcing them, at the risk of fines of up to 50,000 euros and seizure of their vessels, to proceed immediately to a port of safety assigned by the Italian authorities once a rescue operation has been conducted, even if other boats are in distress at sea. The Expert Council maintained that “the onerous, arbitrary and at times unlawful requirements” for Search and Rescue (SAR) NGOs may produce a worrying humanitarian situation by reducing civil society space in the areas of support to refugees and migrants. Finally, it recommended the “Italian Government to consult with civil society groups most affected and to revoke the law until adequate and effective steps are taken to ensure that migrants’ lives are not being put at risk by the inability of search and rescue NGOs to work effectively”. The Decree Law was also under attack by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic, who in a letter addressed to the Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, called on to “consider withdrawing the Decree, or alternatively, to accommodate all the necessary changes (…) to make sure that the text fully complies with Italy’s obligations under human rights and international law”.
• The European Court of Human Rights sentenced Hungary to a €40,000 fine over the death of a 22-year-old Syrian refugee at the hands of Hungarian border guards in 2016. The case was brought by the brother of the victim. Hungary was found in violation of Article 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, for both failing to protect the victim’s life when it was manifestly at risk and failing to properly investigate his death.

25/11/2022-13/12/2022 

• After a year-long inquiry prompted by CSOs complaints, the European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly found that the European Commission failed to take necessary measures to ensure the protection of human rights in the transfers of technology with potential surveillance capacity for projects across Africa aimed at bolstering surveillance. These transfers took place in the framework of the EU multi-billion Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.  

05/10/2022 – 02/11/2022

• The charter airline Privilege Style, which was hired by the UK government to deport people to Rwanda, has pulled out of this scheme following a successful campaign by CSOs and activists. Two other airlines companies that conducted deportation flights in the past, Titan Airways and AirTanker, have already refused to take part into this scheme.

21/09/2022 – 05/10/2022

• The Paris Court of Appeal decided to reopen the investigation into the “left-to-die” boat and in the possible responsibility of France for the death of 63 of the people in April 2011 off the coast of Libya. Thanks to the work of two of the nine survivors, who fought to shed light on the incident with the support of different organisations  
• The NGO Sea Watch announced that it has a new boat, the Sea Watch 5. It will be used in Search and Rescue operations in the Mediterranean.  

03/08/2022 – 21/09/2022

• The NGO Emergency has announced that it will start to conduct Search and Rescue Operations in the Mediterranean with the new ship “Life Support”.  

19/07/2022-03/08/2022

• On 1 August 2022, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that “rescue at sea is a duty and port State controls must not be used arbitrarily against NGOs in the future to detain ships and prevent them from doing their work”. The Court also says that victims of shipwrecks cannot be considered as mere “passengers”. The ruling represents a victory against the criminalisation of SAR NGO ships and a legal security for SAR NGOs.

28/06/2022-19/07/2022

• The European Court of Human Rights condemned Greece for the sinking of a boat carrying 27 people in 2014. 11 people died in the shipwreck. The Court awarded 330,000 EUR to the 16 survivors. According to the Court, Greek authorities did not carry out an appropriate investigation into the shipwreck and did not provide enough protection to the survivors and their families.
• The Slovenian army has started to remove the 200 km long razor wire fence that was installed in 2015 at the border with Croatia. The decision was taken by Slovenia’s new government, that said the border will be monitored with other means. The new Interior Minister said “migrations have not and will not disappear, but this wire was a disproportionate measure. Time has shown that no fence can prevent migration but has caused many tragedies and people were dying”.

07/06/2022 – 27/06/2022 

• On 14th of June, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a ruling that stopped the deportation of seven asylum-seekers from the UK to Rwanda. The ECHR ruled on one of the seven cases, and other lawyers used the ECHR ruling to make successful last-minute applications for the other six people. The ruling of the ECHR was about the case of a 54-year-old Iraqi asylum-seeker who arrived to the UK via the Channel crossing. Next month, a court hearing will examine the legality of the UK-Rwanda deal. 

For the period from June 2021 to May 2022, click here.