Aid organizations criticize unequal treatment of refugees

“These days, politicians in Berlin would call it an unprecedented shame if 561 Ukrainian people had died at the borders of the European Union this year as they fled and sought protection. Governments would have to explain themselves, calls for resignations would be heard, there would be talk of total political failure. Safe passages are needed for all people in need of protection,” says Gorden Isler, chairman of Sea-Eye e. V.

On the occasion of the SEA-EYE 4’s sixth rescue mission in total, Sea-Eye and German Doctors explicitly call on the German government to treat all fleeing people equally and to demand the same from all other European member states. Human rights apply universally to all people, regardless of their national or social origin, skin color, religion or other attributes. This means that EU member states must immediately deploy a governmental sea rescue mission in the Mediterranean and end any cooperation with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.

“As in the past, we supported this upcoming mission with full conviction, both financially and in terms of personnel. We are pleased to be able to send the very experienced emergency physician and German Doctors mission physician Dr. Daniela Klein on the SEA-EYE 4 for the third time. She and all of us see it as our moral duty to help people in need – regardless of their origin or other differentiating characteristics. This is what our association does in countries of the global south, in Greece, Ukraine and also on the Mediterranean Sea, as long as it is necessary and as long as we receive the necessary support. Of course, we hope that politicians will put an end to the suffering in the Mediterranean as quickly as possible, just as in Ukraine and in all other places in the world that are overshadowed by suffering,” said Dr. Harald Kischlat, Chairman of German Doctors e. V.