Italy and Malta have a duty to coordinate rescues of people in distress at sea and their disembarkation in a place of safety. This was decided by the UN Human Rights Committee on Wednesday, 3 September 2025. This decision stems from a complaint by a group of 41 survivors of a shipwreck, who were stranded on the Maridive 208, a gas platform supply vessel, last week.
For seven days, Italy and Malta had neither initiated nor coordinated any rescue operation to a place of safety for the people in distress. Together with the organizations Sea-Watch and Arci, the people affected therefore submitted a request for interim measures to the UN Human Rights Committee. The committee has now ruled that Italy and Malta should have coordinated the rescue and allowed for the disembarkation of the people in a safe place.
Seven people were lost during the shipwreck on 28.08.2025 and have been missing ever since. The 41 survivors were able to save themselves on the supply ship Maridive, which was located near the Miskar gas platform. On the vessel, they survived for almost a week. Help finally came from non-governmental rescue organisations: the civil monitoring ship Nihayet Garganey VI, operated by the NGO TOM – Tutti gli Occhi sul Mediterraneo, provided the people with medicine and food, and the civil sea-rescue ship Aurora from Sea-Watch e.V. finally rescued them from the Maridive 208 after days of inaction from Italy and Malta.
“The fact that a UN body had to intervene at all to remind European states of the most basic rights of people in distress at sea is a disgrace. The decision yet again shows that Europe is ignoring its responsibility and denies people in distress their right to life,”
says Paul Wagner from Sea-Watch e.V.
Due to the rescue operation by Aurora, the Human Rights Committee’s decision no longer has a direct impact on the situation of the survivors, who are by now safe in Italy. Yet, the decision is highly significant as it emphasizes that European states bear direct responsibility for rescuing people in distress at sea in the Mediterranean Sea. Furthermore, the proceeding to establish Malta and Italy’s responsibility for human rights violations in this case is now pending in front of the UN Human Rights Committee
