Saving lives is not a crime. But for the past few years, European governments have increasingly tried to criminalise those brave enough to help refugees at sea and the edges of Fortress Europe.
The Civil Fleet (run by journalist Ben Cowles) intends to highlight this, and raise awareness of the activist-led refugee rescue and support missions in the Mediterranean and across the continent.
Latest Stories
Fears for safety of 27 people after Italy orders their rescuers to send them back to Libya
Meanwhile, search for missing boat carrying 500 people in Malta’s SAR zone goes on TWENTY-SEVEN people are feared to have been pushed back to Libya today after Italy ordered the commercial ship that rescued them to head towards the war torn country. The activist-run distress hotline organisation Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat in…
Greek coastguard accused of another refugee pushback – days after New York Times published video evidence of refugees being forced out to sea
Alarm Phone says about 115 people were forcibly sent back to Turkey today ACTIVISTS have accused the Greek coastguard of pushing over 100 people back to Turkey today — days after the New York Times shared video evidence of the coastguards abandoning 12 asylum seekers at sea. The activist-run distress hotline organisation Alarm Phone said…
Croatian cops regularly pushing people across border with Bosnia, Human Rights Watch warns
CROATIAN police officers are regularly pushing people back across its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina without assessing their asylum requests, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today. In a report released this morning, HRW accused the Croatian authorities of continuing to illegally force people — including unaccompanied children and families with young children — over the…
336 lives saved in the central Mediterranean in less than 12 hours
Rescuers condemn Italy for systematically assigning distant ports following their rescue operations, and the Mare Librum announces it will end its activism in Greece OVER 300 people could have died in the central Mediterranean today were it not for the actions of the activist network of refugee rescuers. The crew of the Geo Barents rescue…
Amnesty condemns British government’s plans to house asylum seekers in disused cruise ships, barges and military barracks
Meanwhile, European Parliament votes for ‘more detentions and quicker deportations’ after UN warns of EU’s role in widespread human rights abuses in Libya AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has condemned the British government’s “dismal” plans to move asylum seekers out of hotels and into disused cruise ships, barges and military barracks. British Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told parliament…
EU-supported Libyan Coastguards use guns to threaten refugee rescuers
Meanwhile, Italian authorities detain the Louise Michel after crew saves over 370 lives in three days and has run in with Libya’s so-called coastguards THE EU-supported Libyan Coastguards threatened the crew of an activist-run refugee rescue ship with gunfire in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea this weekend. The Ocean Viking, a rescue ship run…
Deaths in Home Office asylum-seeker accommodation more than doubled in 2022 over the previous year
Human rights groups condemn government’s ‘abysmal asylum policies’ after The Civil Fleet reveals that 46 people passed away while housed by the Home Office last year FORTY-SIX (46) people, including five newborn babies, died while housed at Home Office asylum-seeker accommodation in 2022 — more than double the number of deaths in 2021. Home Office…
30 people drown in the central Mediterranean, more than 24 hours after authorities were urged to launch a rescue
THIRTY people drowned in the central Mediterranean yesterday after the Italian, Maltese and Libyan maritime authorities failed to come to their rescue over 24 hours after the alarm was raised. Activists from the distress hotline organisation Alarm Phone were contacted by one of the roughly 47 people aboard a boat in the Libyan search-and-rescue (SAR)…
‘Not a tragedy, but a massacre’
Fortress Europe’s migration policies slammed as over 60 people drown in shipwreck off southern Italy while the country’s far right government criminalises rescuers REFUGEE rescue organisations condemned Europe’s migration policies and the criminalisation of rescuers today after at least 60 people, including children and a new born baby, drowned off the coast of Italy. A…
Libyan vessel endangers refugee rescuers in international waters
Italy orders rescue ships Life Support and Aita Mari to sail to distant ports after saving over 180 people A LIBYAN vessel menaced a refugee rescue ship operating in the central Mediterranean earlier this week, an Italian charity revealed today. Emergency made the announcement in a press release today after the crew of their rescue…
73 dead in shipwreck off Libya, as Italy’s parliament makes it harder for rescuers to save lives
Meanwhile, two rescue ships forced to disembark rescued in ports hundreds of miles away AT LEAST 73 people have been reported missing and presumed dead following a shipwreck off the Libyan coast, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced today, as Italy’s parliament made it harder for rescue ships to save lives. “The boat, carrying…
Rescuers disembark people the Italian government would have left to drown
THE CREW of a charity-run refugee rescue ship disembarked over 230 people at a port in north-west Italy today. The Geo Barents, a vessel run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), initially saved 69 people, including 25 minors, from an overcrowded rubber boat in international waters off the coast of Libya on Tuesday. Prior to this…
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The Civil Fleet 