The Italian authorities have detained the Seabird 1 monitoring aircraft belonging to the civilian sea rescue organisation Sea-Watch with immediate effect. This marks a new escalation in the Italian government’s fight against civilian human rights observation in the Mediterranean.
On Thursday, 7 August, the crew of Seabird 1 was informed by the aviation authority ENAC that the aircraft was under administrative detention with immediate effect. Just one week ago, the aerial monitoring crew had documented how the Italian authorities ignored the distress calls of a ship in distress for an entire day without sending help. Two children died as a result. The case attracted a great deal of attention in Italy. Now, for the first time, the authorities have detained one of Sea-Watch’s human rights observation aircraft.
‘The reason for the detention is currently unclear to us,’ says Laura Meschede, spokesperson for Sea-Watch. ‘But it is obvious that this is a pretext to get rid of us as witnesses to the situation in the Mediterranean.’
The authorities are basing their decision on a law passed by the Italian government in October 2024 that allows NGO planes to be placed under administrative detention: the so-called ‘Flussi Decree’. When this law was passed in October 2024, human rights organisations warned that its primary purpose was to get rid of independent human rights monitoring in the Mediterranean. The detention of Seabird 1 confirms these fears.
‘In recent months, we have repeatedly documented serious human rights violations by the Italian government from our aircraft,’ says Laura Meschede. “We have documented how Italian authorities ignored distress calls from boats in distress and dozens of people drowned. We have documented how Libyan militias equipped by Italy and EU have fired on sea rescuers and fleeing people. And every day we document the deadly effects of Europe’s isolationist policy – no wonder the Italian government wants to get rid of us.”
The fact that a Sea-Watch civilian monitoring aircraft has been detained for the first time poses a serious threat to human rights monitoring over the Mediterranean. This is because the penalty increases with each ‘violation’ of the decree: next time, the detention could be for up to 60 days. And on a third ‘violation,’ the aircraft will be irretrievably confiscated. Sea-Watch announced to examine legal steps against the detention.
