Germany orders detention of activists’ ships

Mare Liberum says it won’t accept the blockade of its human rights mission in the Aegean Sea GERMANY delivered a devastating blow today to a human rights organisation operating in the Aegean Sea by ordering the detention of its ships. Not-for-profit association Mare Liberum told the German Transport Ministry last week that it intended to

‘We are going to sail.’ Activists ready to defy German law designed to stop them

Mare Liberum say they don’t intend to provoke the German transport ministry, but they must go back to monitoring Greece’s illegal migrant pushbacks “WE ARE going to sail,” human rights activists told the Star yesterday despite the German government’s recent law changes aimed at stopping them. In June the country’s transport ministry blocked German-flagged humanitarian

First refugees rescued off the Libyan coast in 8 weeks as the Sea Watch 3 saves the lives of over 90 people

EU using chartered planes to organise the Libyan Coastguard’s interceptions of refugee boats, NGOs’ report shows RESCUERS today carried out their first mission off the coast of Libya since Italy seized two charity ships eight weeks ago. Sea Watch 3, a vessel operated by German charity Sea Watch, reported at about noon that it had

Europe’s maritime borders are once again the scene of multiple tragedies this weekend

Activists blast Greece’s brutal treatment of refugees while opening up the country to tourists EUROPE’S Mediterranean and Aegean borders were once again the scene of multiple tragedies and ignored emergencies at the weekend. A pregnant woman began giving birth in a dinghy between Greece and Italy on Saturday after having spent at least 15 hours

Greece urged to investigate refugee pushbacks to Turkey

IOM ‘deeply concerned’ by reports of Greek police, border guards and coastguards using violence to expel migrants THE International Organisation for Migration (IOM) urged Greece today to investigate allegations and testimonies of migrants being forced back across the country’s border with Turkey. The United Nations-affiliated IOM said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned”

Masked men attack refugee dinghy off the coast of Greece as coastguard fails to launch rescue

Human rights activists warn of increase in Greek coastguard’s illegal ‘pushbacks’ of refugees to Turkey ACTIVISTS shared footage of a group of masked men attacking a refugee boat carrying around 35 people in waters off the coast of Greece today. Alarm Phone, an activist network which runs a hotline for refugees in distress at sea,

Turkish naval ship aids pushback of refugees to Libya

Meanwhile NGOs remain the only ships in the Mediterranean to rescue people fleeing the war zone A TURKISH naval ship aided the return of refugees to war-torn Libya today after pulling around 30 people from a dinghy in the central Mediterranean Sea in the morning. Turkey’s National Defence Department tweeted a video today of one

Three-year-old refugee boy dies after boat is struck by Greek coastguard vessel

A THREE-YEAR-OLD refugee boy drowned in the Aegean Sea yesterday after the boat carrying him and 33 other people was rammed by the Greek coastguard. The coastguard vessel was on a routine patrol around the island of Kos in the early hours of yesterday when it overturned the unlit migrant boat making its way from

Europe’s refugee policies condemned after mother and baby burn to death in Greek migrant camp

ACTIVISTS hit out at Europe’s treatment of refugees today, the day after fire in a massively overcrowded refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos killed a woman and her baby. The blaze in the European Union-sponsored Moria camp — built to house 3,000 but now home to more than 13,000 people, the majority Afghan