A Sea-Watch team rescues a migrant from the Mediterranean Sea in 2017
Photo: ALESSIO PADUANO/ AFP
The German aid organization Sea-Watch has announced that it intends to send a new rescue ship to the central Mediterranean.
The "Sea-Watch 5" is "faster, larger and more efficient than its predecessors," it said in a statement.
According to the organization, it is also reacting to the outcome of the parliamentary elections in Italy.
"Instead of 'mother, Italian, Christian' we say 'sea rescue, human rights, Sea-Watch 5'," explained Sea-Watch board member Johannes Bayer, referring to the self-description of right-wing election winner Giorgia Meloni.
The aid organization called the new ship a “declaration of war on the shift to the right in Italy”.
Votes for Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia (FDI) party and her alliance were also votes "for an illegitimate restriction of the right to asylum and migration," the statement said.
IOM: 1100 Mediterranean deaths since the beginning of the year
The new ship, which had previously sailed under the name "Ocean Don", has a length of 58 meters and is better equipped against "deterrence attempts" than its predecessors.
In addition to numerous private individuals, the »United4Rescue« alliance was also named as a financial supporter.
The deputy chair Liza Pflaum explained that the new alliance ship “is a strong sign of solidarity and humanity opposed to the deadly isolation policy of the EU states”.
In August, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that more than 1,100 people had been killed or missing on the flight route across the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year, including more than 900 in the central Mediterranean.
This route from North Africa to Europe is considered the most dangerous migration route in the world.
atb/AFP
