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…
This factsheet outlines a summary of the distress cases witnessed in August 2020 by Sea-Watch’s Airborne crew with Moonbird. In August 2020 we flew 18 missions, with a total flight time of 81 hours and 43 minutes. We spotted around 704 persons in distress. Download Full Report Overview of the distress cases, empty boats…
#CrimesOfMalta: The Maltese Rescue Coordination Centre refuses its duty to coordinate rescues of people in distress at sea in its own search and rescue zone, deliberately accepting the risk of endangering human life. 17 to 19 June 2020: A boat with 25 people on board with no life vests is drifting in the…
In the first half of 2020, Maltese authorities were implicated in multiple failures to respect and protect the rights of refugees and migrants at sea. Under their coordination, people were pushed back to Libya, a country at war where refugees and migrants are systematically abused. Delays in attending to distress calls exposed people to the…
