Since 2015, the European Union and its member states have increasingly failed to conduct sea-rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea — even though it’s a binding duty in international law. Coming in reaction to the fascist backlash against large-scale refugee movements toward Europe, the change of approach is supposedly meant to calm growing racist sentiments toward migrants. Yet, it has failed in every regard. Neither has it restrained the rise of far-right forces, nor did it even meet its declared goal of reducing migration numbers. The sole outcome was the establishment of an ever more deadly border system, with a death toll of at least 27,727 people since 2014.

In recent years, a number of civil sea-rescue organizations have been created in a remarkable effort to fill in the gaps left by the EU’s dismissal of human rights. Thirty-eight ships have been deployed by the so-called civil fleet, allowing several thousand lives to be saved from the death grip of the Mediterranean. One of the organizations, operating since 2016, is Sea-Eye, originally based in the German city of Regensburg.

Ever since the start of their operations, these civil sea-rescue organizations, their captains, and their crews have faced various forms of repression and legal persecution. While some cases, such as the trial launched in Italy against the crew of the rescue ship Iuventa, have drawn media focus, most have received rather less attention. Nonetheless, repression against both refugees and the organizations and crews supporting them has been a constant in civil sea-rescue operations.