After seemingly ending the day with a brief media interview and meeting with one of Save the Children’s representatives working at the Island’s purposely built refugee camp, Harald, Peter and I headed off for a well-earned pizza and glass of wine. What came next was an unexpected event.
Tuesday on Lampedusa proceeded at an unceasingly rapid pace. After meeting Harald and Peter (our cameraman) at the nearby hotel, in customary Southern European fashion we hired out three scooters for the day to take us to our various meetings.
In recent days the Sea Watch Organisation has been faced with a number of unexpected logistical hurdles. Long story short, rather than basing itself in Malta as originally planned, the Organisation will now base itself on the island of Lampedusa for the next five months.
Sea Watch en-route into the Mediterranean The Sea Watch has just passed the Port City of Faro in the Algarve region of Portugal. In the next 48 hours she will sail through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea where she will effectively commence her first operational patrol keeping a lookout for migrant boats…
DetailsAnti-Smuggling Legislation and Migrant Rights In a worrying development the EU recently approved plans to establish a naval force to combat people-smugglers facilitating migration from the Middle-East and North Africa to Europe. Much in line with the mandate adopted by EU Ministers to quash Somali piracy in the Indian Ocean, the new naval force will…
DetailsThe Sea Watch and her crew safely arrived in the Port of Lisbon on the 24 May. The sea conditions were far more favourable when compared to the 4m swells she contended with in the Bay of Biscay.
The Sea Watch and her crew pulled in to the Port of Coruna on the evening of Monday 18 May. The five on board are in good spirits but some poor sea conditions have affected the vessel’s progress. On current estimates the Sea Watch will arrive in Malta on or around the 9 June.
n a week that saw the European Commission unveil plans for an EU wide refugee quota system, migration in the Mediterranean continues to divide opinion among Member States.
