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NGO ship to resume migrant rescue missions in the Med after blockade

The Sea-Watch 3 returns to the sea as migrant deaths in the Mediterranean increase

A GERMAN NGO migrant rescue ship left for the Mediterranean yesterday after a blockade that kept it in a French port for months was lifted by a Dutch court this week.

Sea-Watch’s ship, the Sea-Watch 3 (which sails under the flag of the Netherlands and is therefore subject to Dutch laws), had been blocked from leaving Marseilles in February after the Netherlands introduced new safety regulation applying only to “organisations with idealistic objectives,” as the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management Cora van Nieuwenhuizen put it. 

However, The Hague last Tuesday ruled that the new regulations were legal but that the transition time was too short.

Sea-Watch 3 has now been given until August 15 to meet the new regulations. 

“Sea-Watch returns to sea, acting as it always has in full accordance with the law,” spokeswoman for the NGO Haidi Sadik told the Star.

“The court ruling confirms that the Dutch state acted unlawfully when it imposed new regulations on Sea-Watch in early April. 

“These were ruled in violation of Sea-Watch’s property rights, and cannot be imposed without a transitional period nor specified and legally certain ways to comply.

“Though we received the news positively, this remains an all-time low point for rescue in the Mediterranean. 

“The space to monitor the situation — crossings, shipwrecks, non-assistance by other actors like the so-called ‘Libyan coast guard’ or commercial vessels, and illegal pull-backs — continues to shrink. 

“Civil organisations like Sea-Watch are the only ‘eyes and ears’ remaining in the Mediterranean, and therefore the return of the Sea-Watch 3 is as urgent and important as ever.  

“The civil presence in the Mediterranean will remain, and prove that European member states simply cannot continue to abuse their powers or violate the law in their pursuit of border control.”

Alarmphone, a European NGO hotline for migrants in distress at sea, said it had been in contact with 80 people, including a women in labour, in international waters off the coast of Libya. 

 

 

“The 80 people see commercial ships in the vicinity that [have] not intervened as legally obliged,” it tweeted on Saturday afternoon.

“The situation is critical; one person has gone overboard. The people [have] asked desperately for rescue. Authorities [have been] informed. Why has no rescue operation been launched?”

In a post five hours later, Alarmphone said: “[Italian Rescue Co-ordination Centre has] informed us the boat was rescued by the so-called [Libyan Coast Guard]. 

“We have no further confirmation of this information, since they do not provide position of rescues or any other details. No news from the 80 people themselves. 

“We denounce all push-backs by proxy taking place in the central Mediterranean.”

Migrant rescue organisations reported that at least 70 people drowned on Friday attempting to cross from Tunisia.

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