The civil rescue organization Sea-Watch sharply criticizes the decree passed by the ultra-right Italian government on Dec. 28, 2022. This decree provides that rescue organizations face severe penalties if they do not immediately leave the search and rescue zone after an initial rescue. Shortly before, the government had already introduced a new practice dealing with…
Together with all our supporters we will welcome the Sea-Watch 5 into the civil fleet on the first weekend of November! On November 5th and 6th, we invite all supporters to Hamburg to join the conversation and board the ship. In addition to thematic tours of the Sea-Watch 5, there will be other exciting programme…
(1) In April 2020, the Maltese authorities ordered the merchant vessel IVAN first to only stay on stand-by and then to leave the scene of a distress case. The people have been pushed back to Libya by a fishing vessel afterwards: https://alarmphone.org/en/2020/04/16/twelve-deaths-and-a-secret-push-back-to-libya/?post_type_release_type=post. (2) In July 2020, the Maltese authorities ordered the merchant vessel COSMO to only…
Recent events in Italy paint a dystopian picture for civil sea rescue: a few days after the political blockade of the rescue ship Sea-Watch 3, Italy votes for a hard right-wing parliamentary shift. The alliance around right-wing radical Giorgia Meloni and her party Fratelli d’Italia, whose election campaign also focused on restricting migration, became the…
After rescuing 428 persons from distress at sea, the Sea-Watch 3 was blocked by Italian authorities on Wednesday evening, 21. September 2022, in Reggio Calabria. However, only at the beginning of August 2022 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared arbitrary port state controls (PSC) unlawful. By ignoring the ECJ ruling, the Italian authorities focus…
