AN INITIATIVE by the Protestant Church in Germany to finance and launch a refugee-rescue ship in the Mediterranean has been supported by 150 backers, chairman of Germany’s Protestant church council Heinrich Bedford-Strohm said this week. Mr Bedford-Storhm told the Rheinische Post newspaper that church organisations, charities, trade unions, German celebrities and even the Italian cityContinue reading “German Protestant Church raising funds to join civil refugee rescue fleet in the Mediterranean”
Tag Archives: EU
‘It shouldn’t be civil society versus European governments’
SOS Mediterranee’s DAVID STARKE tells Ben Cowles how EU member states have abandoned their commitments to international maritime and refugee laws when it comes to rescues carried out by the civil rescue fleet THE Ocean Viking, a refugee rescue ship operated jointly by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), saved the lives of 60Continue reading “‘It shouldn’t be civil society versus European governments’”
EU accused of ‘institutional racism’ in the way it handles Mediterranean rescues
‘If white Europeans had been on the boat, they probably wouldn’t have had to wait so long,’ NGO says after EU nations ignored the boat’s distress call THE European Union was accused of institutional racism for the way it handles rescues in the Mediterranean today after calls about another refugee boat in distress went unanswered.Continue reading “EU accused of ‘institutional racism’ in the way it handles Mediterranean rescues”
Gunships attempt to prevent NGO rescue of 91 refugees off the coast of Libya
Social media post claims the armed men were not part of the EU-funded Libyan Coastguard HEAVILY ARMED men fired shots over the heads of refugees and the crew of an NGO ship off the coast of Libya on Saturday while a rescue operation was taking place. German charity Sea Eye’s ship, the Alan Kurdi, wasContinue reading “Gunships attempt to prevent NGO rescue of 91 refugees off the coast of Libya”
EU anti-refugees policies have ‘reached yet another low,’ NGO charges
Alarm Phone details troubling conversation with Maltese maritime authorities which allowed the Libyan Coastguard to intercept a migrant boat within its search and rescue area EUROPE’S anti-refugee policies have reached new depths, a human rights organisation said today after detailing troubling conversations with the Maltese maritime authorities. Last Friday afternoon, Alarm Phone, an activist networkContinue reading “EU anti-refugees policies have ‘reached yet another low,’ NGO charges”
Malta allows Libyan Coastguard to intercept a migrant boat within its own search and rescue zone
ACTIVISTS accused the Maltese maritime authorities of violating international refugee laws in two separate events in the Mediterranean this weekend. The first incident happened on Friday afternoon after Alarm Phone, a network which provides support for people crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, alerted the Maltese Armed Forces of a migrant boat in distress within itsContinue reading “Malta allows Libyan Coastguard to intercept a migrant boat within its own search and rescue zone”
Migrant rescue NGO Sea Watch demands Italy returns its ship
A GERMAN migrant rescue charity staged a silent protest outside a prefecture hall in Italy today to demand that the government release its ship three-and-a-half months after it was seized. The Italian government impounded the Sea Watch 3, owned by the charity Sea Watch, in June after captain Carola Rackete defied former interior minister MatteoContinue reading “Migrant rescue NGO Sea Watch demands Italy returns its ship”
EU border policies have turned the sea into a refugee graveyard, civil migrant rescue fleet charges
THE EU’s border policies have turned the Mediterranean Sea into a refugee graveyard, NGOs charged today after photos emerged of some of the people who died in a recent shipwreck six miles off the coast of Lampedusa. The people pictured on the sea bed by the Italian coastguard drowned after the wooden boat carrying approximatelyContinue reading “EU border policies have turned the sea into a refugee graveyard, civil migrant rescue fleet charges”
The civil refugee rescue fleet is no ‘pull factor’
Speaking to Ben Cowles, Italian researcher MATTEO VILLA debunks the idea that search and rescue operations are encouraging people to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean to Europe THE European Union recently agreed to extend its anti-human trafficking naval mission, known as Operation Sophia, for a further six months. Though ostensibly a military mission, OperationContinue reading “The civil refugee rescue fleet is no ‘pull factor’”
EU-funded Libyan Coastguard has returned over half the refugees who tried to flee the country by sea
The civil migrant rescue fleet condemns Europe’s border policies after the UNHCR publishes the shocking data THE civil refugee rescue fleet has denounced Europe’s border policies after a United Nations report published today found that the EU-funded Libyan coastguard has returned over half of the people who have tried to flee the war-torn country byContinue reading “EU-funded Libyan Coastguard has returned over half the refugees who tried to flee the country by sea”
The Civil Fleet 