Actress Sandra Hüller is patron of SEA-EYE 5

Sandra Hüller© Christian Hüller / Agentur Focus Veröffentlichung und Weiterverbreitungen sind nur im Zusammenhang mit dieser Pressemitteilung gestattet.
© Christian Hüller / Agentur Focus; Publication and redistribution are only permitted in connection with this press release.

From this summer, the sea rescue organisation Sea-Eye e.V. will be sending an all-weather lifeboat to join the rescue effort in the Mediterranean Sea. Beginning on World Refugee Day (June 20th) the organisation is looking for 3,000 ship sponsors to finance the missions.

The former German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) all-weather lifeboat NIS RANDERS will be saving lives in the Mediterranean as SEA-EYE 5. In order to finance the annual budget, the organisation is looking for 3,000 permanent donors to sponsor the ship and ensure the operation of the lifeboat with a monthly donation of 16.67 euros. With Oscar-nominated actress Sandra Hüller, Sea-Eye has gained a prominent patron for the ship.

“It is a great honour for me to be the patron of the SEA-EYE 5. Everyone has the right to freedom, peace and security. Sea rescue teams perform indispensable work that often means the difference between life and death. I want to support this valuable mission and help ensure that people in distress receive the help they so desperately need”, emphasizes Sandra Hüller.

The SEA-EYE 5 is Sea-Eye’s response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, the world’s deadliest migration route. The flexible all-weather lifeboat was built in 1990 and belongs to the 23.3 metre class, a series of seven DGzRS lifeboats. Thanks to its powerful engines, the SEA-EYE 5 can quickly reach boats in distress at sea. Although the ship is smaller than the SEA-EYE 4, it can easily reach the harbours of Lampedusa or Malta to bring survivors to safety. The SEA-EYE 5 is therefore an important addition to the civilian rescue fleet, which has, since 2015, been filling the gap created by the EU ceasing state sea rescue operations.

“We are delighted to be able to send a strong signal in favour of rescue at sea, especially on World Refugee Day: In a few weeks we will be operating a fast and flexible all-weather lifeboat in the Mediterranean. The fact that we have been able to win Sandra Hüller as the patron of the ship strengthens us in our mission to continue saving lives on the world’s deadliest escape route,” says Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye e.V.

As the NIS RANDERS, the all weather-lifeboat was in service off the coast of Maasholm in Schleswig-Holstein until 2018 and was operated by the DGzRS for a further two years without a fixed base. Most recently, the ship was privately owned. Before its first deployment in the central Mediterranean, the SEA-EYE 5 will be overhauled and her technology modernised. For the rescue of people in distress at sea, a daughter boat is carried in a stern hull that can be automatically retracted and extended. The ship also has a towing hook, mobile rescue equipment, and extensive navigation and radio equipment. There is also a sickbay on board. Its equipment and operation is made possible by the long-standing Sea-Eye partner organisation German Doctors e.V..

SEA-EYE 5 will be the fourth ship of United4Rescue, a civil society alliance initiated by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and supported by more than 900 partners. United4Rescue has launched a fundraising campaign to finance the purchase price of around €465,000. The conversion of the ship, the first missions, and part of the long-term financing are secured by two long-term loans from GLS Bank and a crowd campaign from its cooperation partner, GLS Crowd.

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Breaking: Sea-Eye wins in Italian court against Italy

SEA-EYE 4Nils Kohstall

Judge declares 60-day detention in March 2024 unlawful

In a hearing on Wednesday morning, the court in Reggio Calabria ruled in favour of Sea-Eye e.V.’s lawsuit and declared the 60-day detention of the SEA-EYE 4 in March 2024 to be unlawful. The judge found the allegations that the crew of the ship had not followed the instructions of the so-called Libyan coastguard to be unproven.

“The Reggio Calabria judgement is a significant victory for us – and for all other sea rescue organisations! It clearly shows that the detention of civilian rescue ships is an abuse of state powers. We now urgently need the political support of the German government, because Italy is also disregarding the rights of our flag state with its unlawful detentions of German rescue ships. We urge the responsible ministries to take the judgement as an opportunity to campaign for an end to this practice in Italy”, says Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye e.V.

The reason given by the Italian authorities for the detention of the SEA-EYE 4 was that on March 7th, the ship did not follow the instructions of the so-called Libyan coastguard, who, according to eyewitnesses, were pointing weapons at the rescue boat. The crew also did not hand over the people seeking protection to them. The SEA-EYE 4 rescued a total of 84 people from distress at sea during the operation. It was only in February of this year that the Italian Supreme Court of Appeal classified the handover of people to the so-called Libyan coastguard as a criminal offence, as the civil war country of Libya is not a safe place due to serious human rights violations such as torture, slavery, rape and arbitrary executions. The 60-day detention of the SEA-EYE 4 was the longest administrative detention imposed on a sea rescue vessel to date under the so-called Piantedosi Decree. The law, which came into force in Italy at the beginning of 2023, requires ships to contact the Italian rescue coordination centre immediately after a rescue and to be assigned a port without responding to further distress calls.

Between June 2023 and June 2024 alone, the SEA-EYE 4 was detained in Italy for a total of 120 days. Sea-Eye has already filed several lawsuits against unlawful detentions. The judgements are often delayed by several years: a total of five further court cases are currently pending. The processes are associated with high costs and additional effort for the organisation. The next court hearing for one of the ongoing proceedings will take place on June 20th – the case concerns a detention of the ALAN KURDI, which took place over almost four years ago. The rescue ship was in operation for the organisation before the SEA-EYE 4 and rescued a total of 927 people from distress at sea between 2018 and 2021.

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All-weather lifeboat for the Mediterranean

NIS RANDERS

Sea-Eye and United4Rescue send all-weather lifeboat NIS RANDERS into action as SEA-EYE 5

The former German Maritime Search and Rescue Service’s (DGzRS) all-weather lifeboat NIS RANDERS will save lives in the Mediterranean as the fourth United4Rescue ship. United4Rescue and Sea-Eye are responding to political pressure on civil sea rescue, and its newly- created hurdles, with the fast ship which has been specially designed for sea rescue. United4Rescue is launching a fundraising campaign today to finance the purchase.

Following the joint purchase of the SEA-EYE 4 in 2021, Sea-Eye e.V. and United4Rescue are sending another ship to the Mediterranean: the NIS RANDERS, an all-weather lifeboat formerly belonging to the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS). The ship will be overhauled in the coming weeks, christened SEA-EYE 5, and is due to embark on its first mission this summer. The all-weather lifeboat is a response to the ever-increasing hurdles on purely political grounds that are massively hindering civil sea rescue – hurdles such as the allocation of distant ports or the reform of the Ship Safety Ordinance.

“While Italy is making our work more difficult due to distant ports and restrictions, Germany is continuing to work on a reform of the Ship Safety Ordinance to restrict the use of small vessels and leisure craft for sea rescue. We must also expect difficulties in the future. That is why, together with our partner organisations, we are setting an example by sending an all-weather lifeboat whose suitability cannot be questioned in either Italy or Germany. The NIS RANDERS was built for a single purpose: to save human lives”, emphasises Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye e.V.

In order to finance the purchase price of around 465,000 euros, the civil society alliance United4Rescue, initiated by the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD), and supported by over 900 partners, has launched a fundraising campaign today. The SEA-EYE 5 will be the fourth United4Rescue ship born from this alliance to save lives in the Mediterranean.

“These are stormy times – also for civilian sea rescue. Our ships are facing strong political headwinds and constant harassment from the authorities. The all-weather lifeboat is our response to this. Nobody can seriously question the suitability of a German rescue ship”, explains Sandra Bils, board member of United4Rescue. “The new ship is specially designed for open sea rescue, can reach maritime emergencies particularly quickly, and is also cost-efficient. In politically difficult times, we are making it clear what we stand for as a social alliance: for humanity, and the legal and humanitarian duty to rescue people at sea.”

The conversion of the ship, the first missions, and part of the long-term financing are secured by two long-term loans from GLS Bank and a crowd campaign from its cooperation partner, GLS Crowd. As a long-standing partner organisation of Sea-Eye and United4Rescue, German Doctors e.V. is making it possible to equip and operate the sickbay.

About the ship:

The NIS RANDERS/SEA-EYE 5 is a fast and flexible rescue vessel. She was built in 1990 by the Schweers shipyard in Berne-Bardenfleth and belongs to the 23.3 metre class, a series of seven DGzRS lifeboats. The NIS RANDERS was in service off the coast of Maasholm in Schleswig-Holstein until 2018 and was operated by the DGzRS for a further two years without a fixed base. Most recently, the ship was privately owned.

Before its first deployment in the central Mediterranean, the SEA-EYE 5 will be overhauled and her technology modernised. For the rescue of people in distress at sea, a daughter boat is carried in a stern hull that can be automatically retracted and extended. The ship also has a towing hook, mobile rescue equipment, and extensive navigation and radio equipment.

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