DISTRESS calls from at least four refugee boats were ignored by Europe’s maritime authorities this Easter. Between Good Friday and today, refugee hotline organisation Alarm Phone was in contact with four boats with an estimated 47, 55, 71 and 85 people on board. Despite the first two boats having been inside Malta’s search-and-rescue zone sinceContinue reading “Mediterranean becomes refugee graveyard this Easter as Malta and Italy fail to act”
Tag Archives: Italy
Refugees accuse Malta’s navy of sabotaging their boat
THE Maltese navy has allegedly attacked a refugee boat adrift 25 miles off the island nation’s coast. Activist network Alarm Phone tweeted this evening that around 70 people called them around 6pm (GMT) from a wooden boat in distress. “We have an emergency here,” Alarm Phone wrote quoting their conversation with the migrants on theContinue reading “Refugees accuse Malta’s navy of sabotaging their boat”
Refugee rescue ships ask Italy why they’ve been singled out for coronavirus quarantine
Sea Watch and SOS Mediterranee/MSF say they must urgently return to saving men, women and children from drowning TWO NGO refugee rescue ships have questioned why Italy has ordered them to remain in quarantine when no other vessels have been instructed to do so since the coronavirus outbreak hit the country. After rescuing 194Continue reading “Refugee rescue ships ask Italy why they’ve been singled out for coronavirus quarantine”
Rescue ship saves over 150 lives despite Spain’s efforts to thwart them
A REFUGEE rescue charity delivered over 150 people to dry land today, completing its first mission since the Spanish government began frustrating its efforts in November. The Aita Mari, operated by the Basque charity Humanitarian Maritime Rescue Association (SMH), returned to sea on January 30, rescuing a total of 158 people in the central MediterraneanContinue reading “Rescue ship saves over 150 lives despite Spain’s efforts to thwart them”
European authorities ‘entirely absent’ as 930 refugees try to cross the Mediterranean at the weekend
Approximately 650 people were picked up by the civil rescue fleet between Friday January 24 and Monday 27 EUROPE was urged to reassess the way it handles refugees today after about 930 people in 15 separate incidents escaped war-torn Libya and attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea over the past weekend. According to Alarm Phone,Continue reading “European authorities ‘entirely absent’ as 930 refugees try to cross the Mediterranean at the weekend”
Italy’s highest court confirms NGO captain should not have been arrested for saving refugee lives
ITALY’S highest court confirmed today that a former captain of an NGO refugee-rescue ship should never have been arrested. In June last year, Carola Rackete was captain of the civil rescue ship Sea Watch 3, which is operated by the German charity Sea Watch. The ship’s crew saved the lives of 40 people from theContinue reading “Italy’s highest court confirms NGO captain should not have been arrested for saving refugee lives”
Sea Watch wins legal appeal in Italian court, freeing their rescue ship
GERMAN refugee-rescue charity Sea Watch won a legal appeal in an Italian civil court today freeing their ship, the Sea Watch 3, which had been impounded since the summer. The Italian authorities impounded the Sea Watch 3 in June after its captain, Carola Rackete, defied former far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini by entering the portContinue reading “Sea Watch wins legal appeal in Italian court, freeing their rescue ship”
‘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’”
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 Fleet 