Abstract

Starting from a reflection on the impact of EU border surveillance requirements and externalization policies on the reconfiguration of search and rescue policies in the central Mediterranean Sea, this contribution traces the entry into the field of civil society in the internment to fill the so-called rescue gap, generated since the end of 2014. Moreover, after briefly tracing the genealogy of the criminalisation policies of civil society engaged in rescues in the central Mediterranean Sea – the contribution examines three criminal proceedings initiated against NGOs, Open Arms, Sea- Watch and Mediterranea Saving Humans, following acts of transgression of orders received – subsequently deemed ‘legitimate’ by the competent judicial authorities. If on the one hand, it reflects on the meanings and purposes of the politics of criminalisation of civil society at sea, on the other hand, it aims to highlight the potential for de-criminalisation inherent in the decisions to dismiss criminal proceedings and acquit suspects, adopted by some Sicilian courts and the Court of Cassation, regarding acts of ‘civil disobedience’.