At this moment there is a boat of 32 refugees stuck at sea in need of urgent help as European countries refuse to open ports & provide shelter. The Sea-Watch search & rescue mission is still at sea 17 days after rescuing the refugees. Having been denied a port of safety, all those on board - including 2 children, 1 baby & 3 unaccompanied minors - are now enduring storms and dangerous conditions.
I have spent the last few years volunteering with refugees. Through this work I met fellow UK volunteer Robin Jenkins, who is on the boat right now. He reports, “There are no ports in the Mediterranean that will allow us in” and how the refugees have shared stories of escaping “exploitation, slavery, violence and the nightmare that is current day Libya”. Robin warned that they have limited resources, including food and water. Phillip Hahn, Head of Mission on the vessel, Sea-Watch 3, has stated that “the Mediterranean, with its treacherous weather, is taking its toll on the already weakened people.”
The refugees were rescued from an unseaworthy rubber vessel with a broken engine, leaking fuel off the coast of Malta on 22nd December. The rescue mission has since been denied a port of safety by five European counties; Italy, Malta, Spain, Netherlands & Germany. The UN refugee agency has called for the refugee’s ‘timely disembarkation at a nearby safe port’, recognising the very real danger all those onboard face.
The aim is to make so much noise we cannot be ignored! Let’s stand in solidarity with refugees & humanitarian volunteers and get them to safety now!
We have the following demands:
We call on the UK Parliament to intervene, provide assistance and advocate for a port of safety for Sea-Watch 3.
We call on the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid & Foreign Minister, Jeremy Hunt to act to ensure the safety of both the crew & passengers aboard the Sea-Watch 3 vessel.
Sign, share and follow updates on Robin Jenkin’s & Sea-Watch Facebook pages.
*Recent update from Robin Jenkins as of 01.01.19: “We’ve just entered into 2019, we’re still without a port of safety... the conditions are extremely poor, somewhere around 7 or 8 force storm on the Beaufort scale. We still await news of whether we can go into a port of safety and put an end to this situation. Our passengers on board are now beginning to feel very uncomfortable and desperate for a solution. This is not a sustainable situation and we would like for things to be different in 2019. Help us resolve what is going on here. We find it shocking and unbelievable that authorities in Europe would see fit to see us have to withstand this type of condition”
Please note the above information & quotes are from the following news articles which provide further detail:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-wales-46723461
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/migrants-rescue-ship-seawatch-malta-libya-robin-jenkins-uk-a8704726.html
https://sea-watch.org/en/stuck-at-sea-for-over-6-days-without-port-of-safety/amp/
