Twenty-five local activist groups in Malta are urging authorities to prevent further human rights violations and deaths in the Mediterranean Sea. 

The Mediterranean is notorious for being one of the deadliest border areas globally, with tens of thousands of individuals perishing or going missing while attempting to cross it. 

In 2023, at least 3,041 people died in the sea, making it one of the deadliest years on record, with the Central Mediterranean Route being especially perilous. Maltese authorities, in collaboration with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, are accused of exacerbating these fatalities by politicising rescue efforts, delaying assistance, and adopting hostile rhetoric towards migrants. 

Furthermore, they are criticised for outsourcing border control to North Africa, where human rights violations, including torture and sexual violence, are rampant. 

Despite documented abuses, Maltese authorities cooperate with entities like the Libyan Coast Guard, facilitating the forced return of individuals to detention and degradation in Libya, in violation of international conventions. 

Activists demand timely rescue operations, compassionate policies, cessation of pushbacks, discontinuation of support for rights-violating entities, and collaboration with humanitarian organisations for sea rescue operations.

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