“For the EU, the many deaths are part of a brutal calculus of deterrence”
On the 10th anniversary of the end of the Italian maritime operation Mare Nostrum, Sea-Eye e.V. calls for a state rescue operation in the Mediterranean.
“Since the end of Mare Nostrum, more than 27,000 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean. For the EU, these deaths are part of a brutal calculus of deterrence. After all, no one can credibly claim to be unaware of the suffering and the many deaths on the EU’s external borders. And yet politicians allow it to happen – day after day. It is important to realise that if these people had arrived safely in Europe and been welcomed with open arms, no one in Europe would be worse off today. Europe would be a fairer place if these people were still alive. The EU must finally take responsibility for the humanitarian disaster in the Mediterranean and find human rights-based solutions. That is why we are calling for a state rescue operation to save as many lives as possible and fill the gap left by the cancellation of Operation Mare Nostrum. As long as this does not happen, there will be organisations like Sea-Eye, who represent the part of the European population that stands up together for the people who will otherwise continue to be left defenceless at sea to die by the EU,” explains Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye e.V.
The Italian Navy launched Operation Mare Nostrum on October 18th 2013, following two shipwrecks off Lampedusa that claimed more than 600 lives. In just under a year, it saved the lives of more than 150,000 people in the Mediterranean. Mare Nostrum ended on October 31st 2014 at the insistence of the EU. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) then launched Operation Triton. However, the focus of this operation was not on rescuing people in need of protection, but on securing borders – which is why there has been no state-organised sea rescue in the central Mediterranean for over a decade. Instead, private and donor-funded organisations such as Sea-Eye e.V. have stepped up to the plate. Despite their tireless efforts, the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, which claims thousands of lives every year, remains unresolved.
