Malta’s deadly non-assistance in the Central Mediterranean Sea

A joint statement by Alarm Phone, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Sea-Watch. Malta has once more neglected its legal obligations under the law of the sea and abandoned 14 persons in distress at sea resulting into one death. Civil society groups Alarm Phone, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Sea-Watch, all operating…

Crimes of Malta 10

#CrimesOfMalta: The longest stand-off in the history of the Maltese rescue zone: European authorities deny a port of safety for more than five weeks to a merchant vessel that complied with its duty to rescue. 04.08.2020 – 12.09.2020: Watch The Med – Alarmphone was called by 27 people on board a boat in distress and…

Crimes of Malta 09

#CrimesOfMalta: Two boats are simultaneously in severe distress in the Maltese rescue zone. While 108 people on one boat are being rescued by a civilian oil tanker, 72 people on the other boat are being pushed back to Libya by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. 24.07.2020: An inflatable boat with 108 persons as well as…

Crimes of Malta 08

#CrimesOfMalta: Malta delays the rescue of 63 people in imminent life-threatening danger by a whole night. 16.07. – 17.07.2020: “We are dying, we are dying! Nobody is helping us, there is just sea! Please help, help, help!” The people on board the boat in distress called the Watch The Med – Alarmphone in panic at…

Crimes of Malta 07

#CrimesOfMalta: 52 people had to wait several days on a merchant vessel under inhuman and degrading conditions, while neither Italy nor Malta offered a port for safe landing and refused entry into their territorial waters. 03.07. – 07.07.2020: After 52 people had already spent two days at sea, they called the Watch the Med -…