EU policies partly to blame for 3,000 deaths in Mediterranean last year, say rights groups

The Italian coastguard patrol off the coast of Sicily, 15 August 2023. NGOs try to fill the gap when state patrols are unable to help a boat in distress. Photograph: Fabrizio Villa/Getty Images

Several groups running rescue missions in the Mediterranean are calling for a change in the EU’s policies, which they say are partly to blame for the drownings of more than 3,000 people last year.

A 2023 decree has severely reduced the response capacity of the NGO-run civil fleet’s search-and-rescue missions, routinely putting the lives of people crossing the Mediterranean at risk.