MEDITERRANEAN: Fall in number of recorded crossings and deaths in 2025 ― Court in Greece acquits humanitarians in ‘people smuggling’ trial ― Greek NGOs raise concerns about draft law on ‘NGO Registry’ ― Court in Malta awards compensation to teenager u…

• There was an 11% decrease in the number of recorded irregular border crossings in the Mediterranean in 2025.
• There was a decrease in the number of people recorded as missing in the Mediterranean in 2025.
• A court on the Greek island of Lesvos has acquitted a group of humanitarians who were on trial for charges related to people smuggling.
• A large group of Greek NGOs has published a joint statement in response to a draft law that threatens to severely restrict their efforts to support people on the move in the country.
• A court in Malta has ruled that a teenager was unlawfully detained in poor conditions in 2021, and awarded him compensation.
• Significantly more people had their protection status revoked than were granted refugee status in Malta in 2025.

There was an 11% decrease in the number of recorded irregular border crossings in the Mediterranean in 2025. According to preliminary data published by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), there were 137,000 recorded crossings in 2025 compared to more than 153,000 in the previous year. There was a major decrease (-27%) on the Eastern Mediterranean route and a small decrease (-1%) on the Central Mediterranean route. Conversely, there was a 14% increase in the number of recorded crossings on the Western Mediterranean route. Despite the slight decrease on the Central Mediterranean route, it remained the most active migration route into the EU in 2025. The decrease in irregular border crossings in the Mediterranean is consistent with a significant decrease (-26%) in the overall number of irregular crossings recorded on all of the EU’s external borders.

The decrease in the number of recorded irregular border crossings in the Mediterranean is mirrored in a decrease in the number of people who were recorded as missing or dead. According to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project, 1871 people were recorded as missing in 2025 compared to 2573 in the previous year (-27%). The decrease in the number of recorded missing people in the Mediterranean as a whole is notable on the Central Mediterranean route (1340 down from 1810) and the Western Mediterranean route (240 down from). It was not however reflected on the Western Mediterranean route which saw an increase (291 up from 191).

A court on the Greek island of Lesvos has acquitted a group of humanitarians who were on trial for charges related to people smuggling. On 16 January, the Lesvos Court of Appeal cleared the 24 defendants of all charges which related to their humanitarian work in the period 2016 to 2021. Presiding Judge Vassilis Papathanassiou told the court that the defendants had been acquitted of the charges because their intention  was “not to commit criminal acts but to provide humanitarian aid”. The acquittal came after Prosecutor Dimitris Smyrnis had recommended it on the grounds that “no independent basis establishing the criminal liability of the defendants has been demonstrated”. Following the verdict, Zacharias Kesses, the lawyer who represented two of the defendants, said: “I’m astonished that it took 2,889 days for the prosecutor to realise that the accusation made no sense whatsoever – something everyone except him already knew”. Speaking to journalists outside the court, Seán Binder, a German-Irish volunteer who had been held in pre-trial detention for three months in 2018, said: “Today it was made clear, as it should always have been, that providing life-saving humanitarian assistance is an obligation, not a crime”. Binder’s words were echoed by Syrian volunteer Sarah Mardini who had also been held in pre-trial detention. “Saving human lives is not a crime (…). We never did anything illegal because if helping people is a crime, then we are all criminals,” she said. Commenting on the longer-term impacts of the verdict, Eve Geddie from ECRE member organisation Amnesty International said: “We hope today’s decision sends a strong signal to Greece and other European countries that solidarity, compassion and defending human rights should be protected and celebrated, not punished”.

A large group of Greek NGOs has published a joint statement in response to a draft law that threatens to severely restrict their efforts to support people on the move in the country. According to the joint statement, which was issued on 20 January and signed by 56 NGOs, including several ECRE member organisations, the changes to the Migration Code that would be introduced by the draft law would mean that working for an organisation that is included in the registered in the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum’s ‘NGO Registry’ would become a “punishable offence”. It adds that “mere membership of an organisation registered in the NGO Registry elevates misdemeanours such as facilitation of illegal stay, or refusal to hand a travel document, to felonies punishable by up to ten years’ imprisonment and fines of tens of thousands of euros”. The signatories have stated that the aim of the measures is “to intimidate civil society” and have called for their “immediate withdrawal”.

A court in Malta has ruled that a teenager was unlawfully detained in poor conditions in 2021, and awarded him compensation. On 14 January, the First Hall of the Civil Courts found that Ayoubah Fona, a 15-year-old Liberian boy who was rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta in November 2021 after spending 10 days adrift in a boat without food and water since his departure from Libya, was unlawfully detained in the Ħal Safi detention centre. It ruled that Fona was “clearly not being kept in an appropriate and dignified environment, with the safeguards that the law requires to be applied in the interest of a vulnerable person” and ordered the state advocate who was representing the Government of Malta to pay him non-pecuniary damages of €5,000. Fona was represented by the director of ECRE member organisation the aditus Foundation. Writing on Facebook on 16 January, the NGO stated: “Detaining children is not migration management. It is cruel, inhumane and shameful. There are alternatives”.

Significantly more people had their protection status revoked than were granted refugee status in Malta in 2025. According to Minister for Home Affairs, Security and Employment Byron Camilleri, 340 people had their refugee status revoked in 2025 “with 335 cases linked to the expiry of their international protection” while just 87 people were granted refugee status. Camilleri provided the information as part of his answers to parliamentary questions tabled by an opposition MP. Despite the low number of positive decisions regarding the granting of refugee status in 2025, it was still notably higher than the previous year (55).

Related articles