London. UK. HRAS Commentary. Early last week, the Office of Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, published 'A distress call for human rights', a comprehensive follow-up to the 2019 recommendations drafted in 'Lives saved. Rights protected. Bridging the protection gap for refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean'. Human Rights at Sea has reviewed and today, highlights its recommendations in support.
the Administrative Court in Palermo preliminarily suspended the detention of the Sea-Watch 4 pending the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the general legality of the application of the European Directive on Port State Control to humanitarian vessels.
the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), the treaty body responsible for the monitoring of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, found Italy in violation of its obligations under the Covenant in particular in violation of the right to life as provided in Article 6 of the ICCPR read alone, and in conjunction with Article 2 (3), in the context of Search and Rescue (SAR) operations of migrants at sea. According to the HRC, Italy delayed and failed to actively provide rescue to 200 migrants on the high seas.
London.UK. 2020 was a challenging and introspective year for many, largely characterised by the COVID-19 global coronavirus pandemic; not only a crisis of public health, but also a secondary crisis of social, economic and political security resulting from the emergency measures taken by local, national and regional authorities.
London, UK. Human Rights at Sea is delighted to replicate the following breaking press release from our partners at the civil society search and rescue NGO, SOS MEDITERRRANEE highlighting the decision by the Italian Coastguard to release their SAR vessel, the Ocean Viking.
People move. Migration has always been a feature of the human condition and it will always be so. We cannot stop it and efforts to stem it will, in the long run, prove futile. Global population has ballooned in recent years and travel from region to region has increased. More and more people are on the move. Their motives for leaving their homes and seeking lives elsewhere are numerous, but two in particular are relevant to the ‘crisis’ that has developed in recent weeks in the English Channel.
Press Release Immediate Thursday 2 July 2020 LONDON.UK. Human Rights at Sea has today signed the Open Letter to the IMO Secretary General Mr Kitack Lim prepared by the civil liberties organisation Statewatch which was delivered on 29 June 2020 signed by hundreds of individuals and organisations. The letter openly calls on the Secretary-General to revoke the Libyan...
Press Release Thursday 2 July 2020 HRAS. LONDON. The team of SOS MEDITERRANEE has rescued 180 people in four different operations in five days within the Maltese and Italian Search and Rescue Regions. The first two rescues occurred one week ago today. There are presently 180 survivors on the Ocean Viking, including 2 women, 25...
OP-ED 5 July 2019 Photo credit: Reuters Geneva, Switzerland. Captain Carola Rackete has now been freed, but the European political controversy continues. The judicial decision delivered a much needed victory for both common-sense and humanitarian acts of rescue at sea, thereby setting a precedent to be reflected on for all vessel Captains and policy makers alike....
Press Release Friday 10 May 2019 London.UK. As a statement against the criminalisation of those helping people on the move, the Swiss Paul Grüninger Foundation is awarding this year’s prize to the Iuventa 10 humanitarian search and rescue NGO vessel, whilst the crew is under criminal investigations in Italy. The prize money of 50,000 Swiss...
Press Release 26th February 2019 London. UK. Human Rights at Sea has published a new Briefing Note on the ‘Legal and Policy Matters Arising from the Increased Criminalisation of the Civil Society Search and Rescue Activities in the Mediterranean’. This is the second publication on the issue of the increasing levels of criminalisation of civil society...
COMMENTARY Thursday 6 December 2018 Geneva. Update to 3 December Press Release on flagging of the Aquarius Switzerland. The country of Henry Dunant, father of humanitarian principles, has responded to a popular request and parliamentary motion to allow the Aquarius, Search and Rescue (SAR) vessel of SOS Méditerranée and Médecins sans Frontières, to sail under...
HRAS Commentary Monday 9 July 2018 “We could have done something,” – Taking the conscious political decision of leaving persons to drown or suffer from abuse London.UK. Corpses are discovered on Northern African shores, over 600 persons are now missing and feared dead because they embarked on the journey of the deadliest crossing in the...
Press Release 8 May 2018 London. Italy’s collaboration with Libya to stop migrants and asylum seekers reaching Europe is facing a legal challenge over allegations that it has led to grave human rights violations against those crossing the Mediterranean, including torture and slavery. Seventeen survivors of a fatal incident in which a boat carrying migrants found...
Press Release 27 APRIL 2018 London. Human Rights at Sea is closely watching the ongoing situation in the central Mediterranean route, and is deeply concerned with the restrictive asylum policies of the European Union and the general securitisation and criminalisation of search and rescue at sea. What we are witnessing is push backs operations of asylum...
