Refugees Deeply | 27.03.2018
Italy’s seizure of an NGO rescue ship has refocused attention on how Europe outsourced control of the central Mediterranean to the Libyan Coast Guard. Amnesty International’s Matteo de Bellis examines the legal and humanitarian issues at stake.
Watching 93 emaciated refugees and migrants disembark from a Spanish NGO ship in the Italian port of Pozzallo earlier this month, the town’s mayor said they reminded him of “a scene from the concentration camps.”
They had boarded a boat bound for Europe, only to find themselves stranded at sea. One of them, a 21-year-old man called Segen, died a day later. However, his fellow travelers are receiving much-needed assistance, thanks to the brave actions of their rescuers aboard an NGO ship, the Proactiva Open Arms. The following week, that ship was itself making headlines.