Today, on Friday, Sea-Watch has filed an appeal against the blockade of the Sea-Watch 4 at the Administrative Court in Palermo. Italian authorities had blocked the rescue ship after a port state control on 19.09.2020 under flimsy grounds. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 20 people drowned this week alone while…
Ships are detained, our airplane Moonbird grounded, and our activists are being intimidated. Together with the humanitarian NGOs Doctors Without Borders, Sea-Eye, Mare Liberum, Mediterranea, SMH (Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario), ProActiva Open Arms, Alarm Phone and RESQSHIP we condemn the ongoing criminalization of our work. We stand in solidarity with people on the move. Together we…
Download Open Letter Dear Ursula von der Leyen, With great disappointment we could not find the announcement of a European Search and Rescue operation in the Pact on Migration, despite the fact that, as underlined in your State of the Union speech: “saving lives at sea is not optional”. We consider that the safety and…
Following a Port State Control carried out by the Italian authorities on Saturday, the “Sea-Watch 4 powered by United4Rescue” is under an administrative blockade. Sea-Watch, United4Rescue and Doctors Without Borders strongly condemn the blockade of yet another civil rescue vessel and demand an immediate end of the criminalization of civil sea rescue operations. “The flimsy…
Today, twelve days after the first conducted rescue of this mission, the Sea-Watch 4 was able to disembark 353 survivors in Palermo, Italy. European states continue to refuse to rescue shipwrecked people and instead instruct civilian actors to assist in rescues. Once in port, civil actors have to fear repression and the confiscation of their…
