Hierarchies, exclusion and solidarity in the maritime humanitarian space

Between 2014 and 2017, ten NGOs conducted maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) operations off the coast of Libya. While all these organisations were united by their commitment to saving migrantsa lives, the non-governmental provision of maritime rescue reveals some elements of hierarchy at the structural, organisational, and individual level. At the structural level, NGOs had to accept a de facto subordination to Italian authorities, whose cooperation was crucial to ensure effective SAR. Elements of hierarchy are also present at the individual level, both between humanitarian workers and migrants as well as within non-governmental rescue crews. At the organisational level, the organisations involved in SAR included both renowned INGOs with large ships and smaller, newly-established charities operating from small, old vessels. Besides differing widely in terms of material resources and prestige, sea rescue NGOs developed competing understandings of humanitarianism, discursively excluding from the non-governmental rescue community those considered as too unprofessional or displaying a different understanding of humanitarian principles. These asymmetries weakened the cohesion of the maritime non-governmental, hindering sea rescue NGOs' ability to form a unified front against criminalisation.