Seven days after the rescue of 47 shipwrecked off the Libyan coast, the last remaining rescue ship in the central Mediterranean Sea now is blocked off the coast of Sicily despite various cities offering a port of safety. On Thursday the mayor of the Italian city Syracuse, Francesco Italia, had declared the city’s port open,…
Sea-Watch Chairman Johannes Bayer: “The EU pretends to fight human trafficking, but what is it but human trafficking when states spend days haggling over the reception of a few dozen refugees and thereby acutely endanger their lives?” “Sea rescue must never depend on EU negotiations, distribution issues need to be solved on land.” “This weekend…
On Saturday, the Sea-Watch 3 as part of the #united4med alliance has saved 47 people from drowning, including eight unaccompanied minors. Less than 24 hours earlier, over 100 shipwrecked people died or went missing according to the only three survivors rescued by the Italian Navy. The 47 people were rescued off a rubber boat in…
After 19 days at sea, the 49 people on board Sea-Watch 3 and Professor Albrecht Penck, that have been taken hostage by the European Union are free. Sea-Watch is pleased that the people, some of whom were rescued on 22 December, are now finally allowed to go on land. At the same time, a sustainable…
It was 32 people this time, in an unseaworthy boat in international waters north off of Libya. Fleeing war, torture, rape, poverty. Men, women and seven children, four of them unaccompanied. Would Europe have wanted them to drown? We’re thankful that we found them in time. Because every human life deserves protection. That’s why we’re…
