Sea-Eye asks the German Foreign Office for diplomatic support

• ALAN KURDI detained in Olbia
• Italy’s illegitimate repression of German sea rescue organisation
• Sea-Eye asks German Foreign Office for help

On Friday evening, the Italian coast guard detained the ALAN KURDI for the second time this year after an eight-hour port state control. Spanish and German authorities had previously certified the ship as ready for operation after a several-week break in the shipyard.

Captain Joachim Ebeling speaks of “salami tactics” and goes on to say: “If you were really concerned about the safety of the people we rescued, you would not spend hours on end looking for ways to detain us at every opportunity.”

This detention puts all the other missions of this year at risk. Sea-Eye intends to file an immediate appeal against the detention.

“It is unacceptable that Italy questions the German and Spanish authorities’ ability to judge the safety on board the ALAN KURDI. This is absurd and unmasking. The arrests of German rescue vessels are purely politically motivated,” says Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye.

Italy’s illegitimate repression of German sea rescue organisation

Although the Italian government has withdrawn Salvini’s draconian punishments against sea rescue organisation, they have not been abolished. Instead, Italy is currently stopping three German rescue ships and one Norwegian ship from continuing rescue operations. In Italy’s statement on the detention, the coast guard again complains that more people were on board than allowed.

“What we see here is the official implementation of a right-wing populist narrative with concrete measures, aimed in particular at transporting people and simply ignoring the maritime emergency beforehand. This is particularly grotesque because until two years ago Italy herself was still rescuing people from such boats off Libya,” Isler continues.

Sea-Eye asks German Foreign Office for help

On Friday evening, Sea-Eye formally asked the German Foreign Office and the German Foreign Minister for support. After all, the detention of the ALAN KURDI, SEA-WATCH 3 and SEA-WATCH 4 not only openly calls into question the rights of German aid organisations. The rights of the flag state to equip its ships with safety certificates are also affected here. However, the protests of the German Ministry of Transport to the Italian colleagues have so far remained fruitless.

“We are being held for political reasons. We are therefore asking the Foreign Office to try to find a diplomatic solution. After all, it is a matter of people’s survival,” says Isler.

Italian authorities seemed unprepared

The ALAN KURDI reached the port of Olbia in Sardinia on Friday morning (25.09.20). It was to last until Saturday noon at 13:15 until all rescued people were allowed to leave the rescue ship. The process of registering the people and undergoing a health check took considerably longer than usual.

Yesterday, our guests had to wait on deck of the ALAN KURDI for many hours in the cold, wind, and rain. 61 people even had to spend another night on board, as the Italian authorities suspended the registration process yesterday at about 20:30 and only started it again on Saturday morning.

“We can only guess why it took so long. But it seems that the Italian authorities were simply overwhelmed. This was not a friendly welcome for our guests, who had to wait freezing in blankets in the rain, but they endured it with great patience,“ says Kai, human rights observer on board the ALAN KURDI.

The crew has now also been tested for Covid-19. The results are still pending. The Italian authorities had already announced yesterday that the crew of the ALAN KURDI will undergo a 14-day quarantine in Olbia. The captain’s request to head for the port of call Marseille was rejected.

“We have not received any support from any EU state in our work during this mission. But we are glad that we were able to move 133 people to a safe place. We wish these people all the best,“ said Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye at the end of the mission.

Meanwhile, the crew is preparing the rescue ship for the next mission.

The French government appealed to Italy

ALAN KURDI anchors off Sardinia
Following the announcement by Sea-Eye on Tuesday morning that the ALAN KURDI will call at its Port of Call Marseille, the German rescue vessel has now been allocated an Italian port in Sardinia after all. Whether Arbatax can become the port of disembarkation for 125 rescued persons remains unclear, however. So far the ALAN KURDI is only allowed to anchor off Sardinia to seek protection from a storm.

The Italian maritime rescue coordination centre had previously refused to coordinate the operation. Meanwhile, the German Ministry of Transport made no visible effort to ask its Italian colleagues for coordination.

“The German and Italian authorities now have to explain why they silently ducked away from responsibility for four whole days,” says Gorden Isler, chairman of Sea-Eye e. V.

The French government pressed for a solution on Wednesday evening and successfully appealed to the Italian government to respect humanitarian principles in the case of ALAN KURDI. On Wednesday midnight, the Italian rescue coordination centre contacted the captain of the ALAN KURDI to discuss “further coordination”. They suggested a port in Sardinia to the captain in order to find shelter from the weather for the time being.

“Of course we follow this suggestion. After all, we have been asking for the coordination of our case for five days,” Isler continues.

Situation on board the ALAN KURDI
In the meantime, the ALAN KURDI has reached the port of Arbatax and was instructed by the harbour master’s office to anchor there for the time being and to wait for further instructions. The situation on board the ALAN KURDI is described by human rights observer Kai Echelmeyer as stable. Even though some people need to be treated for seasickness, there are no serious problems or conflicts on board.

“However, we still have more than 50 minors on board, including many unaccompanied and also small children,” says Echelmeyer.

However, Sea-Eye’s repeated requests to disembark the particularly vulnerable persons immediately also remain unanswered.

EU Commission calls for coordination and rapid disembarkation in the Migration Pact
On Wednesday, the EU Commission presented its migration pact.

“Search and rescue operations in emergency situations require coordination and rapid disembarkation to a safe place and respect for the fundamental rights of the persons rescued, in accordance with the obligations of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, including the principle of non-refoulement, and with customary and conventional international human rights law and the Law of the Sea,” says point 7 of the paper presented by the Commission.

Commissioner Ylva Johannson underlined the particular importance of civil sea rescue efforts and of supporting them.

“But this is precisely what is not happening at present in the Central Mediterranean. The Commission is calling for legal norms that should be self-evident and should already be complied with,” said Isler.

The fact that Italy completely rejects the responsibility for a maritime emergency is a novelty for Sea-Eye.

“It suggests that Italy no longer even classifies people rescued from distress as maritime emergencies,” says Isler.

In a conversation between the Italian coast guard and Sea-Eye representatives last June, an Italian coast guard lawyer spoke of a “service for migrants at sea” when describing the purpose of ALAN KURDI from the Italian coast guard’s point of view.

“This shows that the Italian view has changed not only on the rescue vessels of the humanitarian organisations, but especially on the rescued people. If you think this through to the end, you come to the frightening conclusion that the coast guard has taken over the view of right-wing populist politicians and is now using the term ‘passengers’ in order to be able to detain the ships for technical reasons,” Isler continues.

ALAN KURDI reached Lampedusa

Within 12 hours on Saturday the crew rescued 133 people from three different boats. First, 90 people were rescued from a rubber dinghy and 24 people from a small wooden boat at noon.

“On neither of the boats there was a satellite telephone so that the people could never have called for help. They would not have arrived anywhere,“ said Kai, human rights observer on board the ALAN KURDI.

The ship’s watch spotted both vessels with binoculars.

“Given the size of the search area, it’s pure luck. We wonder how many boats are disappearing unheard and unseen,“ said Kai.

After nightfall, the crew found another wooden boat with 19 people whose emergency call had been forwarded to the authorities and ALAN KURDI by AlarmPhone. 18 people are Libyan citizens. Neither the responsible Libyan authorities nor the rescue control centres in Rome or Valletta responded to the written enquiries of the captain of the Sea-Eye ship.

Many children were saved

62 of the rescued people state to be minors. There are several families and a pregnant woman on board. The youngest child is still a baby and is only five months old, according to the Libyan mother.

“The families and the children are particularly vulnerable. The ALAN KURDI has now reached Lampedusa. There, we asked Italy for a safe port and requested that at least the families and the minors be evacuated immediately,” Gorden Isler states, Chairman of Sea-Eye.

Sea-Eye fears another blockade, as the Spanish rescue vessel OPEN ARMS was blocked for more than seven days with about 270 people.

“The Italian authorities have become very reluctant to support civilian sea rescuers and prefer to keep our ships in their ports for weeks on end. They seem to have no scruples about putting the rescued people and crews in danger through blockades, only to then argue in a transparent way that the ships are not suitable for precisely these situations,” Isler continues.

The rescued describe reasons for escape

Human rights observer Kai spoke with the survivors on board the ALAN KURDI about their reasons for fleeing.

“There is war in my country. Sunna are being persecuted. I had to flee because they wanted to kill me.”

— 29-year-old man from Yemen —

“The war in Libya destroyed my house and left my family and me without nothing. I spent all I had for a surgery which my son needed but he still needs urgent help which I cannot get in Libya. I never imagined to leave my country like this but there was no other way to protect my family.”

— 45-year-old man from Libya —

Sea-Eye condemns German conception of a “European solution”

• ALAN KURDI returns for another mission after four months
• Spanish authorities support the view of the German authorities
• Sea-Eye criticizes German engagement after the fire in Moria
• Sea-Eye appeals to home port city of Hamburg

ALAN KURDI returns for another mission after four months

After a four months long forced break, the Sea-Eye rescue ship ALAN KURDI returns to sea for its next mission. It left the Spanish port of Burriana on Friday evening. After the last rescue of 150 people, Italian authorities had detained the ALAN KURDI in Palermo at the beginning of May, during the Corona-crisis. In August, Sea-Eye filed a lawsuit against this administrative act before the administrative court in Palermo, the verdict is still pending. The forced detention by the Italian authorities prevented a total of three of the ship’s planned missions. According to the IOM, 252 people drowned in the ALAN KURDI’s operational area during this period.

Spanish authorities support the view of the German authorities

Immediately after the detention, the responsible flag state authority in Germany confirmed that the ALAN KURDI is correctly equipped and certified according to its category. Sea-Eye used the forced break to make numerous technical improvements to the ship. The Spanish port state has now affirmed the position of the German flag state authority. After checking the technical equipment and certification by an extensive port state control, Spain granted the ALAN KURDI permission to cast off and informed the German and Italian authorities.

“There was no objection from Italy on Friday. But we have to expect discussions about sewage systems and yet another port state control by the Italian authorities”, said Gorden Isler, chairman of Sea-Eye e. V.

Sea-Eye criticizes German engagement after the fire in Moria

“The ‘European solution’ is a fairy tale which implies that something good is still to come. We have been witnessing the actual, European solution for 5 years. 20,000 dead in the Mediterranean, 12,000 people seeking protection in Moria and 69 deportations on the 69th birthday of our Interior Minister, Horst Seehofer”, says Isler about the German federal government’s commitment to the fire disaster in the Moria refugee camp.

The Federal Minister of the Interior said in a session of the Bundestag on Friday that Germany was ready to evacuate up to 150 children from Lesbos. He called this measure i.a. “an act of Christian charity”. There is still no solution for the more than 12,000 homeless people seeking protection on Lesbos.

Sea-Eye appeals to home port city of Hamburg

Immediately after the fire in Moria, various federal states declared their willingness to evacuate people from Lesbos. North Rhine-Westphalia would be ready to evacuate a total of 1,000 people. In the meantime, various federal states are working on a Federal Council initiative that aims to enable the federal states themselves to help directly and to evacuate people. Berlin and Thuringia started the Federal Council initiative. Hamburg would now be the one to tip the scales. The expectations of Hamburg are high, since the politically Red and Green Hamburg has already declared itself a safe harbor.

“Such a declaration increases the responsibility to seize the opportunity and to join this historic Federal Council initiative”, says Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye.

In one week, the Federal Council initiative will be voted on in a plenary session of the Federal Council, under ITEM11. Immediately after the disaster, the Hamburg Senator of the Interior Andy Grote declared that Hamburg was ready to take people in. If the other senators of the Hamburg SPD follow him, the approval of the Green government partner should be nothing more than a matter of form.

“Hamburg is the home port of several NGO rescue ships. Now we are appealing to the Hanseatic city itself not to ignore this humanitarian tipping point and to flip the switch in the Federal Council for a human rights-based policy”, Isler continues.