SOS Humanity is part of the Justice Fleet – the largest alliance of non-governmental search and rescue organizations ever. Our goal is to defend human rights and international law, as well as humanitarian work on the high seas – for all of this is under attack in Libya, Italy and the EU. We want to achieve justice and create public pressure to make political change happen.
Repression against civil sea rescue in the Mediterranean continues to increase. Detentions, fines, and administrative measures by the Italian authorities are often carried out without any international legal basis, but are receiving less and less public attention.
The Justice Fleet brings together legal, political, and public strategies to defend search and rescue operations against illegal push- and pullbacks and state repression. The initiative is firmly based on international human rights law. European courts — from Italian courts to the European Court of Human Rights — have repeatedly confirmed that deportations at sea to Libya violate international law.
None of this makes the news in the current social and political climate. There is no public outrage, let alone the necessary civil society pressure to slow down or stop these political developments. That is why the time for new alliances has come.
Justice Fleet Alliance in numbers:
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Ships14
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Plane1
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Activists+10.000
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Supporting Organizations+10
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Rescued+155.000
Our goals:
End unlawful detentions.
No arbitrary blockades of rescue ships. No lawless prisons in Libya locking up people on the move. No prison sentences for refugees forced to steer their escape boats. Protection for people on the move – and for all who stand with them.
Stop the instrumentalization of Libya.
Libya must no longer serve as Europe’s mega-prison and battleground. No boats, no cash, no training for Libyan militias. No new Italy–Libya memorandum.
Crimes must have consequences.
Those responsible for crimes against humanity in Libya and on the Mediterranean must be held accountable. Justice for people left to die at sea and on land.
Protect international law: Scrap the Piantedosi Decree.
End the bureaucratic sabotage of rescue operations by Italian authorities. Stop trying to force us to obey illegal orders of violent militias like the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.
No more distant port assignments.
No weeks-long detours across Italy. Survivors must be disembarked quickly – and allowed to relocate in a fair and self-determined way.
For the right move – safe and legal pathways.
Human rights are unconditional. Evacuate Libya’s privatized prisons and grant safe passage for those searching protection and a better life to come to Europe. That’s the only way to stop the dying at sea. Human rights are for everyone or for no one.
Isabelle Law / SOS Humanity
Our message:
With the founding of the Justice Fleet, the participating organisations send a clear message: Against the normalisation of violence.
Against state repression.
For human rights at sea.
