- The first six weeks of 2026 have been the deadliest start to a year in the Mediterranean since the International Organization for Migration began collecting data in 2014.
- The Council of Europe’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture has published the report of its April 2025 ad hoc visit to Cyprus.
- Greek authorities have issued a European arrest warrant against a Norwegian humanitarian.
- A new NGO report has highlighted serious concerns about the situation of asylum applicants on the Greek islands of Crete and Gavdos.
- The Italian government has approved a controversial draft migration law that could further hinder the activities of search and rescue NGOs.
- An NGO has criticised the Maltese reception system for its reliance of detention.
The first six weeks of 2026 have been the deadliest start to a year in the Mediterranean since the International Organization for Migration (IOM) began collecting data in 2014. According to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, at least 547 people either died or disappeared whilst trying to cross the Mediterranean between 1 January and 15 February. This represents a major increase from the 245 deaths and disappearances that were recorded during the equivalent period in 2025 (254 in 2024). In an opinion piece published by the Monde newspaper, IOM Director General Amy Pope urged states to tackle the “preventable failures” that were turning the Mediterranean into a “graveyard”. Commenting on the IOM data, Daniel Berlin from ECRE member organisation the International Rescue Committee told the Independent newspaper: “When people are pushed into irregular journeys because there are no safe alternatives, increased loss of life is both a tragic and predictable outcome”. “Governments must act urgently to prevent further loss of life. That means investing in safe, managed and accessible pathways to protection,” he added.
The Council of Europe’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has published the report of its April 2025 ad hoc visit to Cyprus. The report noted that the situation in the Pournara First Reception Centre had “vastly improved” since the 2023 visit but that asylum applicants “could remain at the centre for months, while awaiting test results, notably age assessments”. It also highlighted limited access to mental healthcare, a lack of structured activities for adults and a “near-total” absence of educational or recreational opportunities for children. The CPT urged the Cypriot authorities to ensure that all detained asylum applicants received an “individualised detention order outlining the reasons for their detention, its legal safeguards and avenues for appeal” and called for “immediate steps to end the detention of children, including unaccompanied and separated minors”.
Greek authorities have issued a European arrest warrant (EAW) against a Norwegian humanitarian. On 11 February, police in Norway informed the lawyer representing Tommy Olsen that an EAW had been issued against him. The issuing of the EAW to the founder and CEO of the NGO Aegean Boat Report, which monitors and shares data relating to the movement of people in the Aegean Sea, comes almost two years after Greece issued a national arrest warrant based on his alleged involvement in people smuggling and participation in a criminal organisation. In a statement, Olsen said: “I have done absolutely nothing wrong. This is the deliberate targeting of a human rights defender with the aim of intimidation and silence. We have seen these tactics before. First a national arrest warrant, now a European one – still without evidence, still without basis in reality”. The following day, ECRE member organisation Amnesty International used its comments on the EAW to emphasise the importance of humanitarian work in the Mediterranean. “The work of Tommy Olsen and other humanitarians has proven vital in ensuring that people in distress are protected and that abuses don’t go unnoticed. This work should be protected and enabled, not hindered and criminalised,” it said in a statement.
A new NGO report has highlighted serious concerns about the situation of asylum applicants on the Greek islands of Crete and Gavdos. According to the report by ECRE member organisation Refugee Support Aegean, despite a fourfold increase in the number of arrivals in 2025, “no improvement was recorded in reception infrastructure or services and, despite repeated announcements in recent years, no new reception facilities were established”. As a result, it notes that “thousands of people in need of international protection continued to be transferred to makeshift and unsuitable spaces, deprived of their basic rights, without access to meaningful or legal assistance, and with a significant number facing criminalisation on charges of smuggling”.
The Italian government has approved a controversial draft migration law that could further hinder the activities of search and rescue (SAR) NGOs. The draft law, which was approved by the cabinet on 11 February, includes a number of draconian measures, including the possibility of imposing naval blockades to prevent boats from arriving in Italy “in cases of serious threat to public order or national security”. Those breaching the rules could face fines of up to €50,000 and have their boats confiscated in case of repeated violations – “a measure aimed at charity rescue ships”. The draft law was immediately criticised by NGOs and opposition politicians. Peppe De Cristofaro from the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) poured scorn on “the misguided idea that a vast, structural and epoch-defining phenomenon can be addressed by building walls, erecting barbed wire or imposing naval blockades”. In an open letter to the government, a group of SAR NGOs described the draft law as the latest phase of its “strategy to push NGOs out of the Mediterranean” and the possible naval blockades as a measure that “violates international law and rescue conventions”. “If applied, it will mean fewer safeguards, more suffering for shipwrecked people, and fewer vessels ready to intervene at sea,” they wrote. The NGOs concluded by committing to “continue to operate in full compliance with international law to rescue and save lives at sea, refusing to look away”.
An NGO has criticised the Maltese reception system for its reliance on detention. In an interview with the Malta Independent newspaper on 15 February, the head of ECRE member organisation Jesuit Refugee Service Malta, Katrine Camilleri, said that detention remained “a defining feature” of the system, “particularly for people arriving by boat”. Camilleri also warned that detention was likely to become more entrenched following the entry into effect of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum in June and that this risked “undermining access to protection by limiting people’s ability to obtain information, legal support and assistance from civil society”. Questioning the assumption that detention was necessary for the effective management of asylum applicants, she discussed the many people who lived in the community whilst awaiting decisions on their applications, saying: “It’s not clear what objective benefit detention brings to the asylum process itself”. She concluded by stressing that meaningful change to Malta’s reception system would require “both policy reform and a shift in public attitudes” and that “prioritising human rights, enforcing labour law and creating pathways to full belonging” would make the most tangible difference to the lives of people on the move in the country.
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