Berlin, 14 July 2026 – Last week, SOS Humanity, as part of the Justice Fleet alliance, secured another legal victory when a court in Ortona ruled that the detention of the rescue vessel Humanity 1 in December 2025 was unlawful. The judge reaffirmed the legal position established in previous Italian court rulings that Libya cannot be considered a place of safety for people rescued at sea. Nevertheless, last week, another vessel from the Justice Fleet alliance—the Trotamar III—was detained in Italy.
The ruling handed down last Thursday confirms that detaining rescue ships for failing to coordinate with the Libyan rescue coordination centre violates international maritime law. The court emphasised that it is “absolutely impossible” to consider Libya a place of safety as human rights violations against refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants continue with impunity.
“In yet another ruling, an Italian judge has stated that it is illegal to require a captain to communicate with the Libyan rescue coordination centre, as Libya cannot be considered a place of safety for people rescued from distress at sea,” explains Cristina Cecchini, SOS Humanity’s lawyer.
The ruling refers to the detention of the rescue vessel Humanity 1 in Ortona in December 2025. After rescuing 160 people in distress at sea, Italian authorities detained the vessel because the crew had not communicated with the Libyan rescue coordination centre.
SOS Humanity and the Justice Fleet alliance do not recognise the so-called Libyan Coast Guard—subordinate to the rescue coordination centre—as a legitimate actor, which is accused of serious crimes against people fleeing across the sea and in Libya.
Most recently, on 9 July, a 45-day detention order was issued against the rescue vessel Trotamar III. The crew of the ship, operated by CompassCollective, had refused to communicate with the Libyan rescue coordination centre.
“The detention of the Trotamar III and our nearly simultaneous court victory in a comparable case exposes the highly questionable legal position of the Italian government, which insists that NGO vessels must communicate with these illegitimate Libyan actors,” says Wasil Schauseil, SOS Humanity’s spokesperson.
“Moreover, the ruling is politically significant: While courts emphasise the inhumane conditions for refugees and migrants in Libya, European governments are intensifying their efforts to prevent these people from fleeing the country.”
Documents published by the organisation Statewatch show that the EU and its member states continue to expand their migration cooperation with authorities in politically fragmented Libya, despite being aware of the “severe conditions” in Libyan detention centres, the general hostility toward migrants in the country, and the repression of NGOs.
In a 2025 report, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights documented European responsibility for systematic human rights violations in Libya.
You can find the original court ruling in this link.
SOS Humanity is a non-governmental organisation for search and rescue in the Mediterranean Sea. It was founded in 2015 in Berlin, has been active under the name SOS Humanity since 2022, and operating the rescue ship Humanity 1 since August 2022. Since 2016, more than 39,000 children, women and men have been saved from drowning in the Central Mediterranean. The vision of SOS Humanity is a world in which the human rights of all people are respected. In addition to search and rescue at sea, the work of SOS Humanity focuses on bearing witness to the abuses at sea and changing the EU’s closed-door policy towards migrants. All activities are supported by a broad voluntary and financial commitment by civil society.
