On May 11, Sea-Watch 5’s crew rescued a boat in distress in international waters and brought everyone aboard to safety, keeping authorities informed throughout the operation. A smear campaign currently being waged and fabricated by the far-right misleads the public and spreads disinformation.
In the morning hours of May 11, the crew spotted a boat in distress on the horizon and, after informing the relevant authorities, proceeded to rescue. The facts, established once the team was alongside: a double-decker boat, 90 people on board, two unconscious, several severely weakened, people trapped below deck, no life-saving or navigational equipment. At the same time, the rescue team was confronted with masked men, a severe danger both to the crew and to the people in distress. Every further step taken by the Sea-Watch crew was to de-escalate this very dangerous situation: to save lives. At every stage, the relevant authorities were informed. Encounters with masked, armed men have been reported before, by Sea-Watch and by other NGOs operating in these waters.
Now, right-wing media outlets such as Il Giornale are making false claims about the rescue operation, basing them on a video filmed by a Frontex aircraft. The material held by the Italian authorities is covered by investigative secrecy. What can be seen in the video, however, is no secret: Sea-Watch communicated every detail of the rescue operation with the authorities. The actual crime happened after the rescue and was not filmed by Frontex: Sea-Watch 5’s crew and the people they had just rescued came under fire from Libya’s so-called coast guard.
Anna Giannessi, spokesperson for Sea-Watch:
“We always operate transparently and have already months ago communicated every detail of this video to the authorities. This disinformation and smear campaign against civil society will not intimidate us. We stay determined to save lives and to fight for freedom of movement.”
If anyone wants to talk about arrangements with human rights abusers, look at Europe’s deal with Libya: funding a “coast guard” with no independent existence from the militias it’s meant to police. These are forces closely linked to those that fired on Sea-Watch 5 just hours after this rescue. Frontex, meanwhile, pours money into surveillance planes and drones that are very good at filming rescues and remarkably useless at preventing deaths. The EU keeps funding the deadliest crimes.
Sea-Watch’s course will not be altered neither by criminal prosecution nor by this smear campaign. The work of Sea-Watch has always been transparent, and it will remain focused on the people suffering from EU border violence. No manufactured scandal alters Sea-Watch’s commitment to freedom of movement or to saving lives that EU policy continues to endanger.
