The International Organization for Migration has estimated that from 2014 to the end of May 2024, over 29,800 people died or went missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe. These individuals sought to escape war or persecution or to pursue a better life.

By engaging in search and rescue (SAR) operations at sea, civil society organisations play a key role in saving lives and mitigating the hardships that migrants and asylum seekers experience.

Since 2018, national authorities have begun administrative and criminal proceedings against crew members or vessels involved in SAR operations at sea. This paper provides an overview of criminal investigations and other legal proceedings initiated by European Union (EU) Member States against civil society organisations deploying SAR vessels and aircraft in the Mediterranean and/or against individual crew members.

In 2023–2024, this phenomenon concerned the Central Mediterranean, the maritime area where most fatalities at sea occur and where civil society deploy their assets. During the reporting period, they were not present in other areas, such as the Aegean Sea or the Spanish SAR zone.

FRA published a note in October 2018 on Fundamental rights considerations: NGO ships involved in search and rescue in the Mediterranean and criminal investigations. Since then, the Agency has been publishing regular updates on NGO ships involved in SAR operations and the status of legal proceedings against them (see Products | European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (europa.eu).

This update aims to contribute to discussions on the need for sufficient and effective SAR capacities at sea by providing an overview of the difficulties faced by civil society in their efforts to prevent deaths at sea. These discussions are taking place within the European Contact Group on Search and Rescue and in the context of Frontex operations at sea.