Quelle: Vimeo
Quelle: facebook
Watch our short clip on how the Watch the Med Alarmphone works and which information we need from you in case of distress.
The video is in english but other languages will follow soon.
Please spread widely!
Quelle: Alarm Phone
Calls from the Greek-Macedonian border for international solidarity
This past week, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 37 emergency cases in the Aegean Sea, and 1 case in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Besides these situations concerning people in distress at sea or stranded on Greek islands, we also received several calls from those stuck in Idomeni, at the border separating Greece and Macedonia. In these cases we were asked to appeal to the international community and draw attention to the thousands who are prevented from crossing the border to move further north. The humanitarian crisis and mass suffering that European border policies produce were exacerbated further when Macedonian security forces used violence against those trying to overcome the fences, for example by firing tear gas into the crowds. These forms of violence mobilised against men, women and children, many of whom are survivors of violent conflict and war, are deeply disturbing. And while it would be easy to blame the Macedonian security forces for these mass violations of human rights, it is clear that they are reacting to the demands of central and northern EU member states to close their borders to those who seek to merely transit through Macedonian territory.
Im Rahmen des sogenannten Khartoum-Prozesses, mit dem die EU die Staaten Ostafrikas in die Fahndung gegen kommerzielle Fluchthelfer am Horn von Afrika, in Libyen und über das Zentrale Mittelmeer einzubinden versucht, ist im Februar 2016 eine Studie erschienen: „Human Trafficking and Smuggling on the Horn of Africa-Central Mediterranean Route“ (Sahan Foundation and IGAD Security Sector Program (ISSP)).
Es ist das Ergebnis der Zusammenarbeit der italienischen Staatsanwaltschaften mit Polizeien und Militärs Eritreas und Sudans. Es wird ersichtlich, dass die italienischen Staatsanwaltschaften vor allem mit Verhören von Überlebenden der Schiffskatastrophen im Zentralen Mittelmeer seit Oktober 2013 arbeiten.
Ein wichtiges Ermittlungsinstrument sind die beschlagnahmten Handys von Überlebenden, zahlreiche Handy-Fotos und Spitznamen von Beschuldigten sind abgedruckt. Die Ermittlungen gehen wie seit den 1990er Jahren absurderweise davon aus, dass es „key persons and entities“ des „Menschenschmuggels“ gebe, die die Polizei oder das Militär nur auszuschalten brauche, um Flucht und Migration zu stoppen.
Im Vergleich zur Bekämpfung der kommerziellen Fluchthilfe als „Organisierte Kriminalität“ in den 1990er Jahren ist der Grad der Realitätsfremdheit enorm gewachsen: Ermittelt wird gegen kommerzielle Fluchthelfer wegen der Schiffskatastrophen seit Oktober 2013 – die Boat-people ertranken und ertrinken hingegen wegen unterlassener Hilfeleistung, fehlender Seenotrettung und Abschottungen der EU-Staaten.
Die Studie erscheint in der Kooperation von EU-Abschottungseinrichtungen mit afrikanischen Polizeien, die nach der Studie selbst in erheblichem Masse an der kommerziellen Fluchthilfe beteiligt sind.
Quelle: ISSP Sahan HST Report
Quelle: Alarmphone
January 2016: One of the deadliest months ever in the Aegean Sea
In January 2016, the Alarm Phone witnessed the most deadly month ever in the Aegean Sea. On a daily basis, reports about capsized boats and drowned travellers reached us and in several cases the Alarm Phone was directly alerted to shipwrecks with dozens of fatalities. 257 migrants drowned in the cold sea while trying to cross from Turkey to the Greek islands this month and at least 26 travellers died trying to reach Italy. At the same time, the number of people who successfully crossed the European border remains very high: in January 2016 more than 60.000 travellers reached Greece. This high number is comparable to the number of successful sea crossings of last year’s summer months (July 2015: 55.000), rather than to the winter months (January 2015: 1.700).
SWR 2 | 27.01.2016
Interview mit Helmut Dietrich, Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration in Berlin
Everything is possible, everything can be transformed by strong social movements!Through our Alarm Phone project and during this incredible year of successful struggles for the freedom of movement, we learned this lesson once again.
OCTOBER 2014 Although we decided to operate the Alarm Phone throughout the entire Mediterranean Sea, during our preparation process we could hardly imagine how to make effectively use of our hotline in the Aegean area. Illegal PUSH-BACKS by Greek coastguards were daily practices at that time and while discussing this issue with refugees who had directly experienced such life-threatening situations, we thought it would be impossible to develop strategies for real-time interventions to prevent these practices.
OCTOBER 2015 Up to 100 distress calls and messages reached our shift teams in one week alone and nearly all of them came from the Aegean Sea.
Every day and night rescue operations were carried out with realtime support of the Alarm Phone – an unexpected U-turn! This changing dynamic was the consequence of several intersecting factors: Syria had come into power and halted most of the illegal push-back practices and also dismantled some pillars of the Greek-European detention regime.
In the past week, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 37 distress cases in the Aegean Sea and to 1 case in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Depending on the changing weather conditions, members of the Alarm Phone experienced both quiet and extremely busy shifts. Whenever the sea seemed to calm, many boats would go out at sea, despite the cold. In the first two and a half weeks or so of January 2016, more than 30.000 people successfully crossed the Aegean Sea to Greece. In comparison to the nearly 1,500 who did so in the whole of January 2015, this is a significant increase and demonstrates that the new year begins how the last one had ended, with unprecedented cross-border movements into Europe.
New Year begins with more than 60 Deaths in the Aegean Sea and in Ceuta/Spain
We are only a few days into the New Year and already at least 58 persons have died while attempting to cross the Aegean Sea.[1] Last year, more than one million arrivals in Europe by sea were counted. These travellers had no other opportunity to reach Europe than by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, and more than 3750 drowned on their perilous journeys.[2] On the 2nd of January 2016, we had to witness the first death in the Aegean Sea in 2016: a two-year old boy fell off a boat, that we had been in contact with during their crossing, when the boat hit the rocks off the Greek island of Agathonisi, according to media accounts.[3] This death reminds us of Aylan Kurdi and all the other children, who lost their lives in 2015, as well as those whose lives are still being risked every day. On Tuesday, the 5th of January the Alarm Phone had to witness again the loss of at least 34 lives, including many children off the Turkish coast. At least two boats had capsized on early Tuesday morning, because of extremely high waves. The Turkish Coastguard came too late to rescue all passengers.
Mit dem Telefon Leben retten
Tausende Flüchtlinge sind 2015 an den europäischen Außengrenzen im Mittelmeer ertrunken. Oft, weil die Küstenwache nicht rechtzeitig vor Ort ist oder die Behörden versagen. Viele Menschen wollen sich damit nicht abfinden und engagieren sich bei „Watch the Med“ („Das Mittelmeer beobachten“) – einer Initiative von Freiwilligen aus Europa und Nordafrika, die versucht, Leben zu retten und Behördenversagen zu dokumentieren. Eine junge Studentin aus Erfurt ist Teil dieses Netzwerks. MDR FIGARO-Autorin Johanna Hemkentokrax hat sie besucht.
von Johanna Hemkentokrax