NGOs account for 40% of Mediterranean rescues

NGOs account for more than 40% of the rescues of migrants in the Mediterranean, International Migration Organization’s (IMO) regional director, Eugenio Ambrosi, told ACN. “The task of NGOs in the Mediterranean is saving human lives and not encouraging human trafficking,” he claimed. Ambrosi made the remarks a week after EU home affairs ministers agreed to develop a code of conduct for organizations working in the Mediterranean. According to Ambrosi, any measure taken by Brussels should make the rescue work of NGOs easier rather than “making it more difficult.” Thus, he demanded action to “improve the coordination between all rescue operations in the sea.” 

Some EU politicians, such as Spanish Minister of Home Affairs Juan Ignacio Zoido have blamed NGOs for contributing to the arrival of migrants on  European coasts. “The arrival of migrants is not due to NGOs saving lives in the sea, but due to traffickers and other problems forcing people to come to Europe,” Ambrosi claimed. Zoido apologized and last Thursday retracted his words, saying that it is necessary to “raise awareness of NGOs” that do not encourage “irregular immigration”.

One of the organizations that could be affected by the EU code of conduct is the Catalan ProActiva Open Arms, whose aim is to rescue refugees from the sea that arrive in Europe from the war in Syria, but also from other countries. Its main operation area is the Aegean and the Central Mediterranean Sea, and it has won several awards in the past few years, including the Olof Palme Medal 2017, the European Citizen’s Prize 2015 and the HERO Awards International, given by the International Maritime Rescue Federation.