Navigating the Law: Undocumented Migration to the European Union, Sea Rescue Organisations and Legal Mobilisation

The judicial field has emerged as a crucial arena for the contentious politics of migration in the European Union (EU). Both people on the move and the civil society organisations (CSOs) assisting them initially entered this arena to defend themselves from criminalisation. This inherently defensive stance, however, has increasingly been paralleled by a new, active approach to litigation that leverages the judicial system as a platform for political contention. This development is especially evident among organisations conducting rescue operations at sea, which have progressively used litigation as a tactic of resistance against state-led repression. The legal mobilisation strategies of CSOs involved in maritime rescue operations off the coast of Libya can be better understood by disentangling their engagement with international, European and Italian law. Based on this analysis, three distinct but overlapping legal mobilisation phases can be identified, each responding to the different mechanisms, challenges and opportunities provided by international, European and Italian jurisdictions.