NGO rescue ship saves 100s of lives despite Fortress Europe's efforts to stop them
The Ocean Viking, which launched in August, is MSF and SOS Mediterranee’s return to sea-based migrant rescues. The charities had been operating the Aquarius for several years before, but were forced to stop in December 2018 after what MSF Sea described as “sustained attacks on [its] search and rescue [operations] by European states.”
Once again, instead of allowing the crew to safely carry the rescued to a safe port — as international maritime law requires — Italy, Malta and the European Union made every effort to prevent the Ocean Viking, and other ships of the civil migrant rescue fleet, from doing so.
“I’m not entirely sure how easily I’ll be able to reconcile the fact that Europe is allowing this to continue and that we are demonising the people who are doing the work to save these people,” said Hannah Wallace Bowman, communications manager on board the Ocean Viking.
The EU responded to the so-called “migrant crisis” in 2015 not with rescue boats but by launching an anti-human-trafficking naval mission called Eunavfor Med, which is estimated to have saved the lives of 45,000 refugees.
However, in April, after pressure from Italy’s then neo-fascist coalition government, the EU agreed to pull Operation Sophia’s SAR ships and increase funds to the so-called Libyan coastguard (LCG), which has been pushing refugees back to the war-torn country ever since.
The Libyan coastguard and Operation Sophia do not collaborate with the civil fleet, even when their ships are in the vicinity of a boat in distress, Bowman says.
“When we've tried to contact the relevant authorities, they simply don’t respond. If they do pick up the phone, they don’t speak English, which is a requirement of of your co-ordination centre."
The inhumanity of Europe’s handling the crisis was illustrated on September 20 when the Ocean Viking rescued 35 people in a wooden boat from waters within Malta’s search and rescue area.
The Maltese authorities later sent a vessel to the Ocean Viking to transfer the 35 people picked up in its waters but would not take in the 182 other refugees — including a newborn baby, several children and a pregnant woman — who the crew had saved just a few days before in Libyan waters.
Terrible as this situation was, it seems it wasn’t as bad as what happened in August on the Open Arms, a NGO migrant rescue ship operated by a Spanish charity.
The vessel went 19 days with close to 100 refugees crammed on board. Italy’s then interior minister Matteo Salvini’s stubborn refusal to allow the rescued into Lampedusa left the boat languishing for days within sight of land.
The charity’s founder Oscar Camps shared videos of the tense situation on board as arguments broke out between the crew, the Italian coastguard and the rescued people. In one clip, nine refugees throw themselves overboard in an attempt to either reach the island or end their own lives.
Eventually, after several emergency medical evacuations, an Italian court ordered the ship’s temporary seizure and brought the migrants to land.
“We also endured a very horrific standoff at the same time as the Open Arms incident,” Bowman reminds me.
At the time, the Ocean Viking was carrying 356 refugees and had also been denied a port of safety by Italy and Malta. Other EU nations ignored its calls for help.
“These people had been through so much already. And they were now in a situation where they were being told once again that they’re not wanted, they’re not welcome, that people don’t see them as human beings."
I ask Bowman how she feels about Europe’s handling of the crisis. She says the overriding emotion is one of sadness.
“On this last rotation, we had a family: a father, mother and four kids, who’d been detained in Libya. They tried to make the crossing twice previously and had been intercepted by the LCG and forced back into detention.
"I think we’ve gotten to a point where we’re so lacking in a sense of shared humanity. What world are we creating? Where are we heading?”
It sometimes feels like we’re heading towards a kind of eco-fascism, comes my response.
“The very organisations, the very people who are simply trying to do the job that Europe has left by removing its search and rescue capacity are also now the organisations and individuals that are being singled out as criminals,” said Bowman.
“The situation now is quite literally leaving people to die at sea. It’s leaving people with a totally impossible choice whereby they are having to decide between staying where they are and suffering or risking their lives at sea."
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/it-will-not-be-easy-to-reconcile-how-europe-is-allowing-this-to-happen
Once again, instead of allowing the crew to safely carry the rescued to a safe port — as international maritime law requires — Italy, Malta and the European Union made every effort to prevent the Ocean Viking, and other ships of the civil migrant rescue fleet, from doing so.
“I’m not entirely sure how easily I’ll be able to reconcile the fact that Europe is allowing this to continue and that we are demonising the people who are doing the work to save these people,” said Hannah Wallace Bowman, communications manager on board the Ocean Viking.
The EU responded to the so-called “migrant crisis” in 2015 not with rescue boats but by launching an anti-human-trafficking naval mission called Eunavfor Med, which is estimated to have saved the lives of 45,000 refugees.
However, in April, after pressure from Italy’s then neo-fascist coalition government, the EU agreed to pull Operation Sophia’s SAR ships and increase funds to the so-called Libyan coastguard (LCG), which has been pushing refugees back to the war-torn country ever since.
The Libyan coastguard and Operation Sophia do not collaborate with the civil fleet, even when their ships are in the vicinity of a boat in distress, Bowman says.
“When we've tried to contact the relevant authorities, they simply don’t respond. If they do pick up the phone, they don’t speak English, which is a requirement of of your co-ordination centre."
The inhumanity of Europe’s handling the crisis was illustrated on September 20 when the Ocean Viking rescued 35 people in a wooden boat from waters within Malta’s search and rescue area.
The Maltese authorities later sent a vessel to the Ocean Viking to transfer the 35 people picked up in its waters but would not take in the 182 other refugees — including a newborn baby, several children and a pregnant woman — who the crew had saved just a few days before in Libyan waters.
Terrible as this situation was, it seems it wasn’t as bad as what happened in August on the Open Arms, a NGO migrant rescue ship operated by a Spanish charity.
The vessel went 19 days with close to 100 refugees crammed on board. Italy’s then interior minister Matteo Salvini’s stubborn refusal to allow the rescued into Lampedusa left the boat languishing for days within sight of land.
The charity’s founder Oscar Camps shared videos of the tense situation on board as arguments broke out between the crew, the Italian coastguard and the rescued people. In one clip, nine refugees throw themselves overboard in an attempt to either reach the island or end their own lives.
Eventually, after several emergency medical evacuations, an Italian court ordered the ship’s temporary seizure and brought the migrants to land.
“We also endured a very horrific standoff at the same time as the Open Arms incident,” Bowman reminds me.
At the time, the Ocean Viking was carrying 356 refugees and had also been denied a port of safety by Italy and Malta. Other EU nations ignored its calls for help.
“These people had been through so much already. And they were now in a situation where they were being told once again that they’re not wanted, they’re not welcome, that people don’t see them as human beings."
I ask Bowman how she feels about Europe’s handling of the crisis. She says the overriding emotion is one of sadness.
“On this last rotation, we had a family: a father, mother and four kids, who’d been detained in Libya. They tried to make the crossing twice previously and had been intercepted by the LCG and forced back into detention.
"I think we’ve gotten to a point where we’re so lacking in a sense of shared humanity. What world are we creating? Where are we heading?”
It sometimes feels like we’re heading towards a kind of eco-fascism, comes my response.
“The very organisations, the very people who are simply trying to do the job that Europe has left by removing its search and rescue capacity are also now the organisations and individuals that are being singled out as criminals,” said Bowman.
“The situation now is quite literally leaving people to die at sea. It’s leaving people with a totally impossible choice whereby they are having to decide between staying where they are and suffering or risking their lives at sea."
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/it-will-not-be-easy-to-reconcile-how-europe-is-allowing-this-to-happen
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It’s not Malta and Italy’s fault that people are drowning. It’s people smugglers in Northern Africa. We should not be encouraging people crossing the Med, by bringing them to Italy and Malta these NGOs encourage this. They should be taken back as to show you will not get across this way.
Absolutely laughable to suggest the EU don't want the traffic to carry on unchallenged, we really live in the age of misinformation and deliberate manipulation of every piece of news. Brussels are all in and it's only the pesky right-wingers that stand against the forceful migration levels.
It's like the traffic over the English Channel, doing quite well thank you very much. Brussels policy is definitely not one of deterring illegal migration, it's quite the opposite. The OP's problem is simply that borders won't be erased and migration controls entirely abolished, simple as that. Naturally, everyone not that way inclined is a fascist because everyone who dissents from the leftist narrative in any aspect is just that.
It's like the traffic over the English Channel, doing quite well thank you very much. Brussels policy is definitely not one of deterring illegal migration, it's quite the opposite. The OP's problem is simply that borders won't be erased and migration controls entirely abolished, simple as that. Naturally, everyone not that way inclined is a fascist because everyone who dissents from the leftist narrative in any aspect is just that.
Original post by Jebedee
They're not making "every effort " to stop them. There's no mention of RPGs, torpedoes or missiles in that article.
Remarkable. Three posts in, and there are already the baying crowds of fascists who wish for anyone non-white to be exterminated with missiles and guns.
This is "Fortress Europe" syndrome.
Original post by AngeryPenguin
Remarkable. Three posts in, and there are already the baying crowds of fascists who wish for anyone non-white to be exterminated with missiles and guns.
This is "Fortress Europe" syndrome.
This is "Fortress Europe" syndrome.
Europe is not the worlds dumping ground; Italy already has huge issues with population and employment; the last thing it needs is a bunch of migrants coming in
Europe is less densely populated than China, and vastly less so than India. 750m people spread over 10m km^2, compared to double that in China for the same land mass, and double that in India with one fifth of the land mass. On top of that, Europe has a decreasing population - 300,000 more people die than are born every year.
Your complaint is that these 'migrants' are unskilled and do not contribute to the economy. But these are refugees, and one is obligated by morality, not economics, for taking in refugees.
Your complaint is that these 'migrants' are unskilled and do not contribute to the economy. But these are refugees, and one is obligated by morality, not economics, for taking in refugees.
Original post by AngeryPenguin
Europe is less densely populated than China, and vastly less so than India. 750m people spread over 10m km^2, compared to double that in China for the same land mass, and double that in India with one fifth of the land mass. On top of that, Europe has a decreasing population - 300,000 more people die than are born every year.
Your complaint is that these 'migrants' are unskilled and do not contribute to the economy. But these are refugees, and one is obligated by morality, not economics, for taking in refugees.
Your complaint is that these 'migrants' are unskilled and do not contribute to the economy. But these are refugees, and one is obligated by morality, not economics, for taking in refugees.
We are no more obligated to take refugees than I am at letting a homeless person squat in my flat. If they really were refugees they would be going to stable African countries closer to them; they’re choosing to come to Europe for economic reasons, not humanitarian reasons
Original post by Joinedup
Msf won't get a penny from me ever again (not that it's going to make any differentce to their activities)
I think a lot of people presume it's a medical charity not a people trafficking operation.
I think a lot of people presume it's a medical charity not a people trafficking operation.
It's happening all over the charity sector, RNLI are making substantial cuts to their numbers whilst increasing their overseas budget. Most people who donate don't even know they have an overseas budget, they all run out of the door the moment they learn about it because that's not what they donate for: they donate for a specific cause, not to put it in the hands of yet another bunch of Guardianistas wanting to save the world.
Original post by AngeryPenguin
Remarkable. Three posts in, and there are already the baying crowds of fascists who wish for anyone non-white to be exterminated with missiles and guns.
This is "Fortress Europe" syndrome.
This is "Fortress Europe" syndrome.
How is pointing out that your definition of "every effort" is incorrect, fascist?
Also you can be a non white refugee too. Refugee does not equal non white by default.
Original post by AngeryPenguin
Europe is less densely populated than China, and vastly less so than India. 750m people spread over 10m km^2, compared to double that in China for the same land mass, and double that in India with one fifth of the land mass. On top of that, Europe has a decreasing population - 300,000 more people die than are born every year.
Your complaint is that these 'migrants' are unskilled and do not contribute to the economy. But these are refugees, and one is obligated by morality, not economics, for taking in refugees.
Your complaint is that these 'migrants' are unskilled and do not contribute to the economy. But these are refugees, and one is obligated by morality, not economics, for taking in refugees.
When people say the country is full, they aren't talking about land mass. They're talking about public services and associated costs. The reason India and China can support the vast amounts of people is because they don't have support. If we took them in without giving them support we would have created a slave like underclass, or a criminal class. Both of which would cause chaos in the end.
So unless you're willing to abolish the whole social security system, you're not in any position to demand we take in more refugees. I'll bet my right nut you haven't taken any off the streets yourself so pipe down with your morality.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by AngeryPenguin
The Ocean Viking, which launched in August, is MSF and SOS Mediterranee’s return to sea-based migrant rescues. The charities had been operating the Aquarius for several years before, but were forced to stop in December 2018 after what MSF Sea described as “sustained attacks on [its] search and rescue [operations] by European states.”
Once again, instead of allowing the crew to safely carry the rescued to a safe port — as international maritime law requires — Italy, Malta and the European Union made every effort to prevent the Ocean Viking, and other ships of the civil migrant rescue fleet, from doing so.
“I’m not entirely sure how easily I’ll be able to reconcile the fact that Europe is allowing this to continue and that we are demonising the people who are doing the work to save these people,” said Hannah Wallace Bowman, communications manager on board the Ocean Viking.
The EU responded to the so-called “migrant crisis” in 2015 not with rescue boats but by launching an anti-human-trafficking naval mission called Eunavfor Med, which is estimated to have saved the lives of 45,000 refugees.
However, in April, after pressure from Italy’s then neo-fascist coalition government, the EU agreed to pull Operation Sophia’s SAR ships and increase funds to the so-called Libyan coastguard (LCG), which has been pushing refugees back to the war-torn country ever since.
The Libyan coastguard and Operation Sophia do not collaborate with the civil fleet, even when their ships are in the vicinity of a boat in distress, Bowman says.
“When we've tried to contact the relevant authorities, they simply don’t respond. If they do pick up the phone, they don’t speak English, which is a requirement of of your co-ordination centre."
The inhumanity of Europe’s handling the crisis was illustrated on September 20 when the Ocean Viking rescued 35 people in a wooden boat from waters within Malta’s search and rescue area.
The Maltese authorities later sent a vessel to the Ocean Viking to transfer the 35 people picked up in its waters but would not take in the 182 other refugees — including a newborn baby, several children and a pregnant woman — who the crew had saved just a few days before in Libyan waters.
Terrible as this situation was, it seems it wasn’t as bad as what happened in August on the Open Arms, a NGO migrant rescue ship operated by a Spanish charity.
The vessel went 19 days with close to 100 refugees crammed on board. Italy’s then interior minister Matteo Salvini’s stubborn refusal to allow the rescued into Lampedusa left the boat languishing for days within sight of land.
The charity’s founder Oscar Camps shared videos of the tense situation on board as arguments broke out between the crew, the Italian coastguard and the rescued people. In one clip, nine refugees throw themselves overboard in an attempt to either reach the island or end their own lives.
Eventually, after several emergency medical evacuations, an Italian court ordered the ship’s temporary seizure and brought the migrants to land.
“We also endured a very horrific standoff at the same time as the Open Arms incident,” Bowman reminds me.
At the time, the Ocean Viking was carrying 356 refugees and had also been denied a port of safety by Italy and Malta. Other EU nations ignored its calls for help.
“These people had been through so much already. And they were now in a situation where they were being told once again that they’re not wanted, they’re not welcome, that people don’t see them as human beings."
I ask Bowman how she feels about Europe’s handling of the crisis. She says the overriding emotion is one of sadness.
“On this last rotation, we had a family: a father, mother and four kids, who’d been detained in Libya. They tried to make the crossing twice previously and had been intercepted by the LCG and forced back into detention.
"I think we’ve gotten to a point where we’re so lacking in a sense of shared humanity. What world are we creating? Where are we heading?”
It sometimes feels like we’re heading towards a kind of eco-fascism, comes my response.
“The very organisations, the very people who are simply trying to do the job that Europe has left by removing its search and rescue capacity are also now the organisations and individuals that are being singled out as criminals,” said Bowman.
“The situation now is quite literally leaving people to die at sea. It’s leaving people with a totally impossible choice whereby they are having to decide between staying where they are and suffering or risking their lives at sea."
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/it-will-not-be-easy-to-reconcile-how-europe-is-allowing-this-to-happen
Once again, instead of allowing the crew to safely carry the rescued to a safe port — as international maritime law requires — Italy, Malta and the European Union made every effort to prevent the Ocean Viking, and other ships of the civil migrant rescue fleet, from doing so.
“I’m not entirely sure how easily I’ll be able to reconcile the fact that Europe is allowing this to continue and that we are demonising the people who are doing the work to save these people,” said Hannah Wallace Bowman, communications manager on board the Ocean Viking.
The EU responded to the so-called “migrant crisis” in 2015 not with rescue boats but by launching an anti-human-trafficking naval mission called Eunavfor Med, which is estimated to have saved the lives of 45,000 refugees.
However, in April, after pressure from Italy’s then neo-fascist coalition government, the EU agreed to pull Operation Sophia’s SAR ships and increase funds to the so-called Libyan coastguard (LCG), which has been pushing refugees back to the war-torn country ever since.
The Libyan coastguard and Operation Sophia do not collaborate with the civil fleet, even when their ships are in the vicinity of a boat in distress, Bowman says.
“When we've tried to contact the relevant authorities, they simply don’t respond. If they do pick up the phone, they don’t speak English, which is a requirement of of your co-ordination centre."
The inhumanity of Europe’s handling the crisis was illustrated on September 20 when the Ocean Viking rescued 35 people in a wooden boat from waters within Malta’s search and rescue area.
The Maltese authorities later sent a vessel to the Ocean Viking to transfer the 35 people picked up in its waters but would not take in the 182 other refugees — including a newborn baby, several children and a pregnant woman — who the crew had saved just a few days before in Libyan waters.
Terrible as this situation was, it seems it wasn’t as bad as what happened in August on the Open Arms, a NGO migrant rescue ship operated by a Spanish charity.
The vessel went 19 days with close to 100 refugees crammed on board. Italy’s then interior minister Matteo Salvini’s stubborn refusal to allow the rescued into Lampedusa left the boat languishing for days within sight of land.
The charity’s founder Oscar Camps shared videos of the tense situation on board as arguments broke out between the crew, the Italian coastguard and the rescued people. In one clip, nine refugees throw themselves overboard in an attempt to either reach the island or end their own lives.
Eventually, after several emergency medical evacuations, an Italian court ordered the ship’s temporary seizure and brought the migrants to land.
“We also endured a very horrific standoff at the same time as the Open Arms incident,” Bowman reminds me.
At the time, the Ocean Viking was carrying 356 refugees and had also been denied a port of safety by Italy and Malta. Other EU nations ignored its calls for help.
“These people had been through so much already. And they were now in a situation where they were being told once again that they’re not wanted, they’re not welcome, that people don’t see them as human beings."
I ask Bowman how she feels about Europe’s handling of the crisis. She says the overriding emotion is one of sadness.
“On this last rotation, we had a family: a father, mother and four kids, who’d been detained in Libya. They tried to make the crossing twice previously and had been intercepted by the LCG and forced back into detention.
"I think we’ve gotten to a point where we’re so lacking in a sense of shared humanity. What world are we creating? Where are we heading?”
It sometimes feels like we’re heading towards a kind of eco-fascism, comes my response.
“The very organisations, the very people who are simply trying to do the job that Europe has left by removing its search and rescue capacity are also now the organisations and individuals that are being singled out as criminals,” said Bowman.
“The situation now is quite literally leaving people to die at sea. It’s leaving people with a totally impossible choice whereby they are having to decide between staying where they are and suffering or risking their lives at sea."
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/it-will-not-be-easy-to-reconcile-how-europe-is-allowing-this-to-happen
All the "NGOs" are doing is providing a taxi service for illegal migrants to cross the Mediterranean. There is not an iota of goodwill in these people by helping proliferate human trafficking.
Original post by Napp
In that theyre not overtly on fire maybe. Nigeria is classed as "stable" yet it is obviously not a safe place to go. the same goes for most of the other ones for that matter.
And it is worth pointing out who destabilised these countries. Yes, that is correct: America and the West.
Original post by AngeryPenguin
And it is worth pointing out who destabilised these countries. Yes, that is correct: America and the West.
Not entirely sure you can blame 'america and the west' for destabilizing most of Africa as theyre more than capable of doing that themselves without outside help (as most of modern history shows)
And they wouldn't need saving if the EU had secured their borders and these NGOs weren't giving them all false hope. Compare the number of people drowning trying to get to Australia before and after a hardline system was imposed and people stopped even trying. The easiest way not to drown is to not go on the water in the first place
Original post by AngeryPenguin
And it is worth pointing out who destabilised these countries. Yes, that is correct: America and the West.
So how many was it again? Two in the bedroom? Three in the living room? Don't be shy.
In my opinion these charity boats should be impounded and their crews arrested. It is not the job of charities to dictate the immigration or foreign policy of European states. As alluded to also, the third worlders have no right to enter the great continent of Europe when there are other relatively safe states available.
Original post by Napp
In that theyre not overtly on fire maybe. Nigeria is classed as "stable" yet it is obviously not a safe place to go. the same goes for most of the other ones for that matter.
Whilst that is a pity, I still see no reason to be morally obliged to take them in. I’m sure there are multiple African countries both safer and closer (in relative terms and that don’t involve the risk of drowning either) from the ones they’re fleeing from.
I agree that those people are economic migrants and Italy got it own problems. But the fact is those people come from middle class background and pay thousand of pounds. They need to know Europe streets or not made to gold and they would be better of staying in their own country.
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