MEDITERRANEAN: Many dead and missing following spate of tragedies ― New detention facility opens in Cyprus ― NGO report highlights pushbacks and deaths in Aegean Sea ― Authorities in Italy continue to target NGO humanitarian vessels ― Italy referred to ICC Assembly over Almasri case | European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)

At least 100 people have died and dozens are missing following several incidents in the Mediterranean in recent weeks.
Authorities in Cyprus have announced the partial opening of new pre-removal detention centre.
A new NGO report has highlighted the extent of pushbacks and deaths on Greece’s maritime border in the Aegean Sea in 2025.
Authorities in Italy have detained two NGO rescue ships.
The International Criminal Court has announced that Italy has been referred to its Assembly of States Parties over the Almasri case.

At least 100 people have died and dozens are missing following several incidents in the Mediterranean in recent weeks. On 27 March, a vessel operated by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) rescued 26 people from a boat that was found close to the Greek island of Crete. According to the Greek Coastguard, at least 22 people who were on the boat that had left Tobruk in Libya six days earlier had died during the journey and their bodies had been thrown overboard “on the orders of one of the smugglers”. On 1 April, 19 people, including a baby, died off the coast of Bodrum in Türkiye after the boat they were travelling in capsized while being pursued by the Turkish Coastguard. On the same day, the Italian Coastguard rescued 58 people, including five children, and recovered 19 bodies from a boat that was found south of the island of Lampedusa. Most recently, on 5 April, two merchant vessels rescued 32 people and recovered two bodies from a boat that had capsized in the Central Mediterranean. According to survivors, 71 of the 105 people who were on board the boat when it left Libya the previous day were missing. The International Organization for Migration has recorded almost 1,000 deaths in the Mediterranean since the start of 2026.

Authorities in Cyprus have announced the partial opening of new pre-removal detention centre. The centre, which is located in Limnes, close to the village of Menoyia in Larnaca, is expected to be mainly funded by the EU and will have an initial capacity 1,000 people. According to the Cypriot Ministry of Justice, the centre represents a “substantial step” in upgrading the state’s infrastructure and it should strengthen the “operational management of migration” and relieve existing structures. According to the updated AIDA Country Report on Cyprus, which was published by ECRE in March, the Limnes Centre will replace the Menogia Detention Centre which has a capacity of 128 people. It will also be used to detain people who are currently detained in police holding cells in conditions that the report described as “sub-standard”.

A new NGO report has highlighted the extent of pushbacks and deaths on Greece’s maritime border in the Aegean Sea in 2025. According to the report by Collective Aid, at least 96,913 people, including 24,876 children, experienced “border incidents” in the Aegean Sea. It noted that 82,239 people were prevented from accessing international protection due to “apprehensions and ‘rescues’ by the Turkish Coast Guard and pushbacks by the Greek Coast Guard” and that there had been 263 documented deaths and disappearances, of which 54 had been “directly caused by pushbacks and boat chases carried out by the Greek Coast Guard”. It urged states and the EU to end border violence, to take responsibility for deaths and disappearances and to restore meaningful access to asylum.

Authorities in Italy have detained two NGO rescue vessels. On 18 March, the Sea-Watch 5 rescue ship was impounded in the port of Trapani for 20 days. According to the search and rescue NGO Sea-Watch, the detention and accompanying €10,000 fine was imposed after the ship’s captain refused an order to proceed to a designated port which was more than 1,100 kilometres away after disembarking 31 of the 93 people that the crew had rescued in international waters three days earlier. Sea-Watch has argued that the survivors who remained on board the ship were “suffering from seasickness, exhaustion, and fuel burns, which needed to be treated under proper clinical conditions” so the captain entered the port of Trapani “in order to protect the fundamental right to life (Article 2 of the ECHR)”. On 7 April, the NGO also reported that its other rescue ship, the Aurora, had also been impounded after disembarking 44 people on the island of Lampedusa. It noted that it would be notified of the exact length of the detention and the amount of the fine “in the coming days”.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced that Italy has been referred to its Assembly of States Parties over the Almasri case. Njeem Osama Almasri, a Libyan general accused of crimes against humanity, was arrested in Turin in January 2025 on an ICC warrant but was released shortly afterwards and repatriated to Tripoli. According to the ICC, the referral decision was taken in January following a Pre-Trial Chamber I decision from October 2025 that found that Italy had failed to comply with its international obligations by “not properly executing the Court’s request for the arrest and surrender of Mr Njeem while he was on Italian territory, and by not consulting and cooperating with the Court to solve any purported issues arising from the formulation of the Arrest Warrant and the purported competing request for extradition”.

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