Autor/Autorin
It is now 75 days since the rescue ship „Lifeline“ was detained in the harbour of La Valetta on the island of Malta off the coast of Sicily. The Maltese authorities are obviously putting a lot of energy into trying to prevent further rescue missions by NGOs in the dangerous area between Libya, where there is open civil war, and Sicily. According to calculations by „Mission Lifeline“, 380 people have drowned in the sea area in these two months alone.
Who will be held responsible for this? Will any head of government or (interior) minister ever have to answer for this shameless arrest of sea rescue ships?
On Saturday, the captain of the last mission of the „Lifeline“, Claus-Peter Reisch, reported on the situation in Malta at an event organised by the Green Party in his home town of Landsberg am Lech. The crews of the „Lifeline“ and – for just as long – the „Sea Watch3“ are stuck there, while people in distress at sea are drowning just a few nautical miles away. Captain Claus-Peter Reisch knows what he is talking about, because on his last mission he had to witness how his ship with 230 rescued people became a political pawn and was not allowed to enter a safe harbour for a week. Italy, France and Portugal were among those who offered to take in the rescued people so that the ship would be allowed to enter the harbour, as were some German states, while Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CSU) remained mute and deaf for days.
The Federal Minister of the Interior, who found the „incident“ extremely inconvenient due to the internal CDU/CSU dispute over asylum policy, fuelled the mood even further when he finally regained his tongue by talking about a „shuttle“ between Libya and Sicily. The rescue mission of the „Lifeline“ had to be prevented from becoming a „precedent“, and so on and so forth. We are now familiar with the CSU’s election campaign slogans, which Horst Seehofer used, and which only drive more and more voters into the arms of the AfD due to their urge for confirmation, but divide the population because they pit people against each other.
The fact that the „Lifeline“ has become exactly what the Federal Minister of the Interior and his Italian counterpart Salvini (Lega Norte) wanted is shown by the fact that the trial against Claus-Peter Reisch for allegedly invalid papers, which was to be decided today in Malta after several attempts, has been postponed again due to a lack of evidence. A fully equipped and thoroughly inspected ship, with a fully operational crew and valid Dutch papers, is prevented from leaving a harbour, while at the same time refugees, many of whom are severely scarred by torture in the Libyan camps, are drowning in the Mediterranean. Poor Europe!
The question can be answered clearly: yes, „Mission Lifeline“ is a precedent, one more sad example of how low respect for human rights can sink, that it could come to this. Since 2013, the Lampedusa shipwreck, over 12,300 migrants have died in the Mediterranean. The website „German-foreign-policy.com“ states that around 35,000 people have died on their way to Europe since 2000 – hardly anyone knows how high the number of unreported cases is, but you can get an approximate idea. Terribly high!
Only one thing is certain, namely that one day in the not too distant future history will repeat itself, which some or unfortunately many – at least in Germany – should already know. Our children and grandchildren will ask us with regard to the odysseys of the „Mission Lifeline“ and other sea rescue ships: „What did you do when thousands of people drowned off the coast of Italy and Spain? Did you support and help the „Lifeline“?“
The „Mission Lifeline“ is collecting for a new ship, here is the donation account:
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