DOCSLIB.ORG

MUPDC-2021-Chapter56 28..39

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
MUPDC-2021-Chapter56 28..39 Open Access Report The Critical Risk of Disinformation for Humanitarians – The Case of the MV Aquarius Sean Healy Head of Reflection and Analysis, Médecins Sans Frontières Operational Centre Amsterdam; [email protected] Victoria Russell Communications Adviser, Médecins Sans Frontières Operational Centre Amsterdam; [email protected] Abstract The search and rescue of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants on the Mediterranean has become a site of major political contestation in Europe, on the seas, in parliaments and government offices and in online public opinion. This article summarises one particular set of controversies, namely, false claims that the non-government organisations conducting such search and rescue operations are actively ‘colluding’ with people smugglers to ferry people into Europe. In spring and summer 2017, these claims of ‘collusion’ emerged from state agencies and from anti-immigration groups, became viral on social media platforms and rapidly moved into mainstream media coverage, criminal investigations by prosecutors and the speech and laws of politicians across the continent. These claims were in turn connected to far-right conspiracy theories about ‘flooding’ Europe with ‘invaders’. By looking at the experience of one particular ship, the MV Aquarius, run in partnership by MSF and SOS Méditerranée, the authors detail the risks that humanitarian organisations now face from such types of disinformation campaign. If humanitarian organisations do not prepare themselves against this risk, they will find themselves in a world turned upside-down, in which their efforts to help people in distress become evidence of criminal activity. Keywords: disinformation, conspiracy theory, search and rescue, refugees, Mediterranean, criminalisation, social media, far right, Médecins Sans Frontières, SOS Méditerranée Introduction homelands’ (statement by Defend Europe, quoted in Holthouse, 2017). From December 2016, this conspiracy This is the story of a meeting between a humanitarian theory spread from the far-right anti-immigrant fringes, operation and a conspiracy theory, and what happened was bolstered by the statements of the European border next. The operation was a search and rescue mission run control agency Frontex, caught fire on social media, was on the Mediterranean by many different non-govern- then repeated by major media outlets, politicians and mental organisations (NGOs), including Médecins Sans prosecutors, and eventually became policy of the then- Frontières,1 aiming to save the lives of migrants, refugees government of Italy, under Interior Minister Matteo and asylum seekers lost at sea. The conspiracy theory2 Salvini. It achieved its moment of (temporary) victory in was that this operation was the opposite of what it 2018 with the closing of Italian ports to NGO vessels and seemed: that it was actually a plot in which search and the halting of search and rescue operations by NGOs on rescue organisations were actively and directly colluding the Mediterranean. The collision of these two wildly with people smugglers to ferry ‘migrants’ from Libya to different points of view provoked significant political Europe. And even that this was only part of a deeper plot and humanitarian consequences across Europe. to ‘invade’ and ‘flood’ the continent and make ‘we There is, of course, nothing new about disinformation, Europeans … a minority in our own European or its use in conflict and crisis, or its implication of 28 Journal of Humanitarian Affairs Volume 3, No. 1 (2021), 28–39 © The authors http://dx.doi.org/10.7227/JHA.056 This is an Open Access article published under the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence https://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc-nd/4.0 Downloaded from manchesterhive.com at 10/01/2021 10:56:26AM via free access The Critical Risk of Disinformation for Humanitarians humanitarians. The aphorism, ‘In war, the first casualty rescue operations, all prompted into doing so by two is truth’, goes back to World War I, or perhaps horrific shipwrecks in April 2015 in which 1200 asylum Aeschylus. Throughout their history, humanitarian seekers drowned (Heller and Pezzani, 2016). actors have worked in many conflicts deeply marked The MSF adviser replied that NGOs were in no way not only by the clash of metal and bodies, but also by the colluding with people smugglers but were rather simply din of conflicting words, claims and narratives. But the doing their job of saving lives – and that perhaps Frontex forms that this disinformation has taken have constantly might be better off doing the same (Ponthieu, 2016). This changed as technology has changed, from printing exchange between MSF and Frontex, in public and via presses to wireless and TV and now to social media. the media, and later also in private, was not the first such The rapid growth in internet penetration and social dispute, but it would prove to be the opening salvo in a media usage worldwide has made it easier and quicker to two-year-long propaganda campaign. access and share vast quantities of news, information and entertainment – and this has proved fertile ground for all The Claims kinds of political propaganda, conspiracy theories, Opponents of dedicated search and rescue (SAR) disinformation campaigns and hybrid warfare. missions in the Mediterranean had long criticised such This case of the MV Aquarius highlights the increas- efforts for being a ‘pull factor encouraging more ingly dangerous environment that humanitarians are migrants to attempt the dangerous sea’ (House of now operating in in the early twenty-first century: Lords, 2016)3 or a ‘magnet’ (Farrell, 2014)ora‘bridge’ meaning not the Mediterranean, but the emerging (Anetzberger, 2014) for migrants, refugees and asylum information space. If humanitarian organisations do seekers. Before the arrival of NGO vessels, this same not ready themselves for this space, they will find claim had been made against naval SAR operations such themselves in a world turned upside-down, in which as Mare Nostrum.4 their principles have no meaning, in which suffering is Naval and NGO rescuers and their supporters have, in the fault of those suffering and the responsibility of no- reply, argued that the numbers of people attempting the one, and in which their efforts to help people in distress Central Mediterranean route is largely driven by ‘push become evidence of criminal activity. factors’ such as conflict in the countries of origin, violence in Libya, the closure of other routes and lack The Case of the MV Aquarius of safe and legal pathways. The principal effect of reduced SAR resources, they have claimed, is not reduced numbers of people attempting the journey, but It Begins an increased risk of death. On 13 December 2016, a humanitarian adviser at MSF in For example, MSF conducted its own research Brussels received a call from the correspondent of the (Arsenijevic et al., 2017) into this claim of a ‘pull Financial Times. He wanted to know if MSF had any factor’ which compared the trends in attempted sea comment on a report he had received confidentially from crossings and adverse sea outcomes over three time within the European border agency, Frontex. With a periods: during Operation Mare Nostrum (dedicated headline alleging that search and rescue organisations on SAR mission but no NGO presence), during the period the Mediterranean were actively colluding with people of Operation Triton5 but before the start of NGO smugglers, the eventual article read: operations, and following the start of NGO SAR missions. It found that there were only 1.6 per cent Frontex put its concerns in a confidential report last more attempted crossings in the period of NGO month, raising the idea that migrants had been given ‘clear involvement than during the period of Triton-only indications before departure on the precise direction to be followed in order to reach the NGOs’ boats’. SAR resources. It also found a reduction in adverse sea outcomes (deaths and missing) from 39/1000 attempted The agency made the accusation explicitly in another crossings to 16/1000. Other analyses by different report last week, which stated: ‘First reported case where the criminal networks were smuggling migrants directly on researchers (Steinhilper and Gruijters, 2017; Villa, an NGO vessel’.(Robinson, 2016) 2020) have reached broadly similar conclusions. The commanders of the naval missions have argued likewise, At that point, MSF had been running search and such as Operation Sophia’s commander, Admiral Enrico rescue operations since mid 2015, with three ships then Credendino (quoted in Floris and Bagnoli, 2017). operational on the Mediterranean: the Bourbon Argos, The claim of ‘collusion’, however, made in the the Dignity I and the Aquarius, the latter run in confidential Frontex report and carried by the Financial partnership with SOS Méditerranée (Figure 1). The Times, was an escalation. A ‘pull factor’ might operate organisation was only one of many running such despite the intentions of the rescuers and be simply the 29 Downloaded from manchesterhive.com at 10/01/2021 10:56:26AM via free access (2021) 3/1 Journal of Humanitarian Affairs Figure 1: MSF search and rescue operations – overview Source: MSF, http://searchandrescue.msf.org/ (accessed 28 March 2021). unfortunate side-effect of a well-meaning endeavour. Maritime Traffic website, with the daily arrival figures ‘Collusion with people smugglers’, ‘trafficking’ and from the UN High Commissioner
Load more

Recommended publications
  • (Mkc) Current Awareness Bulletin June 2019
    INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION MARITIME KNOWLEDGE CENTRE (MKC) “Sharing Maritime Knowledge” CURRENT AWARENESS BULLETIN JUNE 2019 www.imo.org Maritime Knowledge Centre (MKC) [email protected] www d Maritime Knowledge Centre (MKC) About the MKC Current Awareness Bulletin (CAB) The aim of the MKC Current Awareness Bulletin (CAB) is to provide a digest of news and publications focusing on key subjects and themes related to the work of IMO. Each CAB issue presents headlines from the previous month. For copyright reasons, the Current Awareness Bulletin (CAB) contains brief excerpts only. Links to the complete articles or abstracts on publishers' sites are included, although access may require payment or subscription. The MKC Current Awareness Bulletin is disseminated monthly and issues from the current and the past years are free to download from this page. Email us if you would like to receive email notification when the most recent Current Awareness Bulletin is available to be downloaded. The Current Awareness Bulletin (CAB) is published by the Maritime Knowledge Centre and is not an official IMO publication. Inclusion does not imply any endorsement by IMO. Table of Contents IMO NEWS & EVENTS ............................................................................................................................ 2 UNITED NATIONS ................................................................................................................................... 4 CASUALTIES...........................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Precarious Position of NGO Safe and Rescue Operations in the Central Mediterranean
    05 2 0 1 7 (NOUVELLE SÉRIE- VERSION ÉLECTRONIQUE) UNCERTAINTY, ALERT AND DISTRESS: THE PRECARIOUS POSITION OF NGO SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS IN THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN ADAM SMITH1 I. INTRODUCTION – II. INTERNATIONAL SAR FRAMEWORK, CURRENT CRISIS AND RESPONSES – III- OPPOSITION TO NGO DEPLOYERS – IV. LEGAL EVALUATION OF ANTI-NGO POLICIES, CURRENT AND EXPECTED – V- CONCLUSIONS AND OBSERVATIONS ABSTRACT: The international framework for maritime search and rescue relies on state actors establishing regions of responsibility supported by private shipmasters acting in compliance with traditional duties to rescue persons in distress at sea. Despite revisions to the framework’s founda- tional treaty, questions persist about the extent of state responsibilities and the interaction between those responsibilities and international human rights law. Over the past three years, non-govern- mental organizations (NGOs) have provided significant support to the efforts of sovereign actors responding to the migration crisis in the Central Mediterranean. Regional governments and civil society initially praised NGO operations, but in recent months these groups have come to criticize and challenge such operations. Italian authorities have threatened criminal prosecution of NGO de- ployers and proposed closing national ports to them. Libyan authorities have harassed NGO vessels and sought to exclude them from international waters. These actions are consistent with non-entrée strategies employed by Mediterranean states in recent years, but are in certain cases of questionable legality. Although controlling irregular migration is properly the responsibility of state actors, re- cent policies are inconsistent with principles of rule of law and good governance. KEYWORDS: irregular migration; maritime law; Search and Rescue regime; NGOs; Italy; Libya; human rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Report 2021, No. 6
    News Agency on Conservative Europe Report 2021, No. 6. Report on conservative and right wing Europe 20th March, 2021 GERMANY 1. jungefreiheit.de (translated, original by jungefreiheit.de, 18.03.2021) "New German media makers" Migrant organization calls for more “diversity” among journalists media BERLIN. The migrant organization “New German Media Makers” (NdM) has reiterated its demand that editorial offices should become “more diverse”. To this end, the association presented a “Diversity Guide” on Wednesday under the title “How German Media Create More Diversity”. According to excerpts on the NdM website, it says, among other things: “German society has changed, it has become more colorful. That should be reflected in the reporting. ”The manual explains which terms journalists should and should not use in which context. 2 When reporting on criminal offenses, “the prejudice still prevails that refugees or people with an international history are more likely to commit criminal offenses than biographically Germans and that their origin is causally related to it”. Collect "diversity data" and introduce "soft quotas" Especially now, when the media are losing sales, there is a crisis of confidence and more competition, “diversity” is important. "More diversity brings new target groups, new customers and, above all, better, more successful journalism." The more “diverse” editorial offices are, the more it is possible “to take up issues of society without prejudice”, the published excerpts continue to say. “And just as we can no longer imagine a purely male editorial office today, we should also no longer be able to imagine white editorial offices. Precisely because of the special constitutional mandate of the media, the question of fair access and the representation of all population groups in journalism is also a question of democracy.
    [Show full text]
  • Unhcr Position on the Designations of Libya As a Safe Third Country and As a Place of Safety for the Purpose of Disembarkation Following Rescue at Sea
    UNHCR POSITION ON THE DESIGNATIONS OF LIBYA AS A SAFE THIRD COUNTRY AND AS A PLACE OF SAFETY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DISEMBARKATION FOLLOWING RESCUE AT SEA UNHCR POSITION ON THE DESIGNATIONS OF LIBYA AS A SAFE THIRD COUNTRY AND AS A PLACE OF SAFETY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DISEMBARKATION FOLLOWING RESCUE AT SEA September 2020 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 1 Situation of Foreign Nationals (Including Asylum-Seekers, Refugees and Migrants)................................... 3 Humanitarian Situation ................................................................................................................................. 11 International Protection Needs of Foreign Nationals Departing from/through Libya .................................. 16 Libya as a Country of Asylum ...................................................................................................................... 16 Designation of Libya as Safe Third Country ................................................................................................ 16 Designation of Libya as a Place of Safety for the Purpose of Disembarkation following Rescue at Sea ... 17 Introduction 1. This position supersedes and replaces UNHCR’s guidance on foreign nationals in Libya contained in the Position on Returns to Libya – Update II of September 2018; however, UNHCR guidance in relation to Libyan nationals and habitual residents as provided in the September
    [Show full text]
  • Feeling Humanitarianism During the Spanish Civil War and Republican Exile
    Journal Feeling humanitarianism during the spanish civil war and republican exile MARTIN MORUNO, Dolorès (Guest Ed.) Reference MARTIN MORUNO, Dolorès (Guest Ed.). Feeling humanitarianism during the spanish civil war and republican exile. Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 2020, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 1-13 DOI : 10.1080/14636204.2020.1842092 Available at: http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:145176 Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version. 1 / 1 Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjsc20 Feeling humanitarianism during the Spanish Civil War and Republican exile Dolores Martín-Moruno To cite this article: Dolores Martín-Moruno (2020): Feeling humanitarianism during the Spanish Civil War and Republican exile, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14636204.2020.1842092 Published online: 17 Nov 2020. Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cjsc20 JOURNAL OF SPANISH CULTURAL STUDIES https://doi.org/10.1080/14636204.2020.1842092 INTRODUCTION Feeling humanitarianism during the Spanish Civil War and Republican exile Dolores Martín-Moruno Institute for Ethics, History and the Humanities, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Until two decades ago, a mere “handful of historians” were concerned with the study of humanitarianism (Taithe and Borton 2016, 210). The reason is that humanitarianism has traditionally been presented as a moral imperative “located out of history” (Taithe 2017a), rather than as a movement whose long-term evolution needs to be understood in political (Arendt [1963] 1990; Boltanski [1993] 1999), economic (Haskell 1985; Roddy, Strange, and Taithe 2018), social (Brodiez and Dumons 2009) and cultural terms (Festa 2010).
    [Show full text]
  • The Migration Crisis and the Fundamental Role of Ngos During Search and Rescue Operations in the Mediterranean
    Master’s Degree programme in Comparative International Relations Second Cycle (ex D.M. 270/2004) Final Thesis The migration crisis and the fundamental role of NGOs during search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Supervisor Ch. Prof. Antonio Trampus Assistant supervisor Ch. Prof.ssa Sara De Vido Graduand Anna Simoncini Matriculation Number 841138 Academic Year 2017/2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 1 INTRODUCTION 9 CHAPTER I – THE MIGRATION CRISIS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA. 1. The current migration crisis and its evolution over the years. 11 1.1 Recent data on migration in the Mediterranean area. 13 2. International legal framework governing migration at sea. 16 2.1 The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). 17 2.2 The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. 18 2.2.1 The principle of non-refoulement. 20 2.2.2 The principle of non-refoulement as international customary law. 22 2.3 The International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR). 24 2.3.1 The Search and Rescue Regions. 25 2.3.2 The division of the areas of responsibility among the Mediterranean states. 26 2.3.3 The experts’ opinions about search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean. 28 2.4 The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 29 3. European legal framework governing migration. 31 3.1 The Treaty of Amsterdam. 32 3.2 The Treaty of Lisbon. 35 3.3 The Dublin Convention. 37 3.3.1 The Dublin II Regulation. 39 3.3.2 The Dublin III Regulation. 41 3.3.3 The Dublin IV Proposal.
    [Show full text]
  • Fundamental Rights Report 2020 Is Published in English
    FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS REPORT ― 2020 REPORT — A great deal of information on the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the FRA website at fra.europa.eu The Fundamental Rights Report 2020 is published in English. — FRA’s annual Fundamental Rights Report is based on the results of its own primary quantitative and qualitative research and on secondary desk research at national level conducted by FRA’s multidisciplinary research network, FRANET. Relevant data on international obligations in the area of human rights are available via FRA's European Union Fundamental Rights Information System (EFRIS) at: https://fra.europa.eu/en/databases/efris/. © European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2020 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not under the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights copyright, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders. Neither the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights nor any person acting on behalf of the Agency is responsible for the use that might be made of the following information. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 Print ISBN 978-92-9474-895-9 ISSN 2467-2351 doi:10.2811/18138 TK-AL-20-001-EN-C PDF ISBN 978-92-9474-894-2 ISSN 2467-236X doi:10.2811/570216 TK-AL-20-001-EN-N Photos: see page 228 for copyright information PRINTED ON PROCESS CHLORINE-FREE RECYCLED PAPER (PCF) Contents 1 TEN YEARS ON: UNLOCKING THE CHARTER’S FULL POTENTIAL ..................................................................4 1.1.
    [Show full text]
  • ATLAS of MIGRATION Facts and Figures About People on the Move
    ATLAS OF MIGRATION Facts and figures about people on the move ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE IMPRINT The ATLAS OF MIGRATION is published by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Berlin, Germany Chief executive editors: Johanna Bussemer, Dorit Riethmüller Editors: Christian Jakob (coordination), Stefanie Kron, Wenke Christoph Managing editor: Dietmar Bartz Art Director: Ellen Stockmar English Editor: Paul Mundy Proofreader: Maria Lanman Fact checking: Infotext Berlin Contributors: Friedrich Burschel, Wenke Christoph, Johanna Elle, Sabine Hess, Christian Jakob, Bernd Kasparek, Stefanie Kron, Laura Lambert, Ramona Lenz, Carlos Lopes, Sowmya Maheswaran, Johanna Neuhauser, Mario Neumann, Jochen Oltmer, Maria Oshana, Massimo Perinelli, Maximilian Pichl, Matthias Schmidt-Sembdner, Helen Schwenken, Maurice Stierl, Christian Stock, and a team of authors. Cover image: Ellen Stockmar The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishing organization. Editorial responsibility (V. i. S. d. P.): Alrun Kaune-Nüßlein, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Second English edition, October 2019 Produced by Bonifatius GmbH Druck – Buch – Verlag, Paderborn Climate-neutral printing on 100 percent recycled paper. This material (except the cover picture) is licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported“ (CC BY-SA 4.0). For the licence agreement, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode, and a summary (not a substitute) at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en. Individual graphics from this atlas may be reproduced if the attribution ”Bartz/Stockmar, CC BY 4.0“ is placed next to the graphic (in case of modification: ”Bartz/Stockmar (M), CC BY 4.0“). ATLAS DER MIGRATION Daten und Fakten über Menschen in Bewegung FOR FREE DELIVERIES AND DOWNLOADS: Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Franz-Mehring-Platz 1, 10243 Berlin, Germany www.rosalux.de/atlasofmigration FLUCHT, ARBEIT, The ATLAS OF MIGRATION is also published as ATLAS DER MIGRATION in German.
    [Show full text]
  • PECKELS, Nina (2CD) Gesetze Und Ethik Im Konflikt
    LYCÉE ERMESINDE MERSCH, 2019/2020 GESETZE UND ETHIK IM KONFLIKT SEENOTRETTUNG NINA PECKELS DIRECTEUR: BROERS MAURICE Nina Peckels 2cD 2019/2020 Eigenständigkeitserklärung Hiermit versichere ich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und nur mit den angegebenen Hilfsmitteln verfasst habe. Datum: 01.05.2020 Nina Peckels 1 Nina Peckels 2cD 2019/2020 Inhalt Inhalt ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 1. Einleitung ........................................................................................................................................ 3 2. Begriffserklärungen ......................................................................................................................... 4 3. Grenzreglung innerhalb und außerhalb der EU ............................................................................... 6 4. Das Seerechtsübereinkommen der vereinten Nationen ................................................................... 8 5. Seenotrettung Heute ...................................................................................................................... 14 6. Der Laconia Befehl ....................................................................................................................... 17 7. Der ethische Aspekt ....................................................................................................................... 20 8. Quellen .........................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Transgressive Solidarity: from Europe’S Cities to the Mediterranean Sea
    DeBono, D and Mainwaring, C. 2020. Transgressive Solidarity: From Europe’s Cities to the Mediterranean Sea. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 10(4), pp. 90–106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/njmr.360 SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE Transgressive Solidarity: From Europe’s Cities to the Mediterranean Sea Daniela DeBono1,2 and Ċetta Mainwaring3 1 RSCAS – Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Fiesole, IT 2 MIM – Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare, Malmö University, Malmö, SE 3 School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK Corresponding author: Daniela DeBono ([email protected]) In the wake of increasing migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, non-governmental organizations took to the seas to conduct search and rescue operations in 2014. In 2016, this humanitarian fleet rescued 50,000 people in the Central Mediterranean Sea. In the meantime, local solidarity initiatives emerged across Europe, motivated by the arrival of many people in their cities and by deaths and border spectacles in the Mediterranean. Juxtaposing solidarity work in the Mediterranean Sea with solidarity work within the European Union’s borders, we examine how the spaces they operate in shape the possibilities and limits of solidarity activism. Despite identifying important differences, we ultimately demonstrate how the solidarity work within Europe and in the Mediterranean Sea fold into each other in complex ways. Moreover, we show how across Europe, people engage in transgressive soli- darity work that challenges EU border practices and concomitant categories to reimagine a more welcoming Europe. Keywords: Transgressive solidarity; Solidarity activism; Humanitarianism; Medi- terranean Sea; Search and rescue Introduction On an unusually warm autumn day in Hamburg, we entered a warehouse along the harbour front, the Elbe glittering in the sun behind us.
    [Show full text]
  • The Castaways from Hell
    THE CASTAWAYS FROM HELL Testimonies collected on the Aquarius AUTHOR PHOTOS MARIE RAJABLAT LAURIN SCHMID Hausa proverb “Idan ka ga wani yana gudu kuma yana so ya fada cikin wuta, yana nufin cewa abin da yake bin shi yafi wuta” “If you see someone fleeing who would rather fall into the fire, this means that whatever it is that is chasing him is worse than the fire.” FOREWORD One of the three essential missions of SOS MEDITERRANEE is to bear witness... Marie Rajablat's work, far from naive optimism or voyeurism, shows how crucial this mission of bearing witness to the situation in the Mediterranean is. Having read this book, it is impossible not to understand that any reservations around the rescue of those who are drowning in the Mediterranean, “mare nostrum”, are ridiculous or even irresponsible. In fact, their rescue is not an option, but a necessity, in the philosophical sense that simply leaving them to drown at sea is “something which cannot be”. When it comes to migration policies, everything is open to debate, questioning or argument; everything except the immediate rescue and disembarkation at a safe port of these human beings, these torn families who are fleeing hell. In this context, things are simple: we have no choice other than to act, unless of course we yield to the thoughtless temptation to lose our soul, to avoid facing facts, and thus to feed the poison that insidiously undermines Europe and our societies, in the same way that the desperate lack of will and strategic vision of our politicians does.
    [Show full text]
  • Immigrazione: Accoglienza O Contenimento ? Un Nuovo Approccio
    I DOSSIER DI PARTECIPAGIRE.NET IMMIGRAZIONE: ACCOGLIENZA O CONTENIMENTO ? UN NUOVO APPROCCIO Di Massimo D’ANGELO 1 Sommario Parte I ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 UN PIANO MARSHALL PER L’IMMIGRAZIONE: UNA NOVITÀ, UNA SOLUZIONE, UN’ILLUSIONE O COS’ALTRO?.......................................................................................................................................... 4 Un Piano Marshall per l’immigrazione è una novità? ..................................................................... 4 Chi propone un Piano Marshall per l’immigrazione? ...................................................................... 4 Obiettivo finale: riduzione dei flussi migratori ............................................................................... 6 Quando si potrebbe introdurre un Piano Marshall per l’immigrazione? ........................................ 6 Ogni tanto c’è qualcuno che chiede un Piano Marshall per l’aiuto ai paesi più poveri.................. 7 Alcune domande di fondo ................................................................................................................ 9 I problemi di efficacia e di impatto dell’aiuto e un Piano Marshall per l’immigrazione .............. 11 NOTE .............................................................................................................................................. 12 Parte II ..................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]