[3] During a session of the Italian parliament on 10 May 2017, a prosecutor accused Jugend Rettet of working together with migrant smugglers.
[6] In August 2017, Jugend Rettet refused to sign the code of conduct for NGOs set up by the Italian government.
[9][10] On 10 June 2018, the Biografilm Festival in Bologna, Italy, introduced Michele Cinque's 86-minute cinema documentary Iuventa [de] about the ship and its missions, filmed between 2016 and 2017.
[11][12][13] On 10 May 2019 the crew of the Iuventa was honored by the Swiss Paul Grüninger Foundation with a human rights award for saving the lives of around 14000 people in the central Mediterranean Sea.
[14] On 2 August 2017 the public prosecutor of the Italian municipality of Trapani seized the Iuventa on allegation of cooperation with migrant smugglers and the encouraging of illegal immigration.
[21] In July 2018, investigations were started against some members of Jugend Rettet,[22] including the ship's captain, Pia Klemp.