Overview

• The ECHR unanimously dismissed a 2018 complaint by 17 survivors over a November 2017 Mediterranean rescue involving about 150 migrants.
• Judges found the capsizing occurred in Libya’s search-and-rescue zone where Italy had no effective control or jurisdiction.
• Italy’s financial and logistical support to the Libyan coast guard was deemed insufficient to trigger extraterritorial responsibility under the European Convention on Human Rights.
• A Libyan vessel conducted the actual rescue and the court did not link survivors’ allegations of pushbacks or mistreatment to Italian authority.
• Italy’s broader migration strategy, including resumed transfers of asylum seekers to Albania, remains under scrutiny as the ECJ prepares to rule on its legality.