Press Release 18th July 2019 Reproduced Article. GENEVA (18 July 2019) – UN human rights experts* have expressed grave concern over the detention and criminal proceedings in Italy against the German captain of the migrant rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3, and stated that the threats to the judge who ruled her release were unlawful. “Rescuing...
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...
Press Release 29th June 2019 Photo Credit:Carola Rackete REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane London. UK. The arrest in the early hours this morning in the Italian port of Lampedusa of Carola Rackete, the German captain of the Dutch-flagged humanitarian rescue vessel, Sea-Watch 3, who defied the imposed ban to disembark migrants saved from a rubber dinghy off the coast of...
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...
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...
PRESS RELEASE Tuesday 04 December 2018 Geneva. On November 30th, the Swiss Parliament has responded to a parliamentary inquiry on the possibility of letting the Aquarius, search-and-rescue (SAR) ship run by SOS Méditerranée and Médecins sans Frontières, denying the vessel to sail under the Swiss flag. The issue has stirred a national debate in the country...
PRESS RELEASE Immediate London, UK. Human Rights at Sea is please to publish a legal research and educational article by Luisa Zappalà titled: “Search and rescue: shared responsibilities in international law of Member States, the European Union and Frontex in the Mediterranean.” The article, a LLM dissertation, was first published in 2016 through the University...
PRESS RELEASE 31 July 2018 London. UK. Human Rights at Sea has joined nine other leading NGOs in an open letter to UNHCR over the ongoing handling of the Mediterranean crisis. To the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Filippo Grandi, The signing organizations have been closely monitoring the latest developments...
Press Release Thursday 20 July 2018 London.UK. Six days ago, a boat carrying 40 people in distress, including two pregnant women, who sought asylum and protection in Europe had entered the Maltese Search and Rescue (SAR) zone. The migrant boat was denied entry into Malta. The fact that the migrant boat had reached Malta SAR...
In an unprecedented step, the Malta based Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) search and rescue (SAR) NGO has suspended all rescue operations in the Mediterranean citing, among other reasons, concern about the lawfulness of returns to Libya and alluding to the conditions of those returnees held in detention facilities in Libya. MOAS was one...
Human Rights at Sea participates in the second Summer School of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (JMCE) for Migrants’ Rights in the Mediterranean on “Open Doors, Sea Border Controls and Human Rights” in Naples Human Rights at Sea’s former intern and now Advisor, Elizabeth Mavropoulou, participated on behalf of the charity and delivered...
Human Rights at Sea CEO David Hammond speaks to the BBC about the current migrant issues in the Mediterranean. CEO David Hammond speaks to BBC News...
The Sea-Watch migrant rescue blog hosted by Human Rights at Sea has been updated Read the about the latest developments HERE...
PRESS RELEASE Immediate – 13 June 2016 “I have no worry about crossing the sea, because as soon as I take decision to leave my family for an unknown world, there is no more worry. I will either succeed or die. That is it.” Following extensive field research in the Sahel, Africa, Human Rights...
U.S. Naval Vessel to Join NATO Migration Task Force SMG2 exercise (file image courtesy NATO) Reproduced with express permission: MarEx 2016-05-20 20:36:19 On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced plans to deploy a naval vessel to join NATO forces in the Aegean on a mission to combat human trafficking. Kerry told allies that the U.S....