Amicale

Wednesday 27 June, 1-2pm, room G4: Spokesperson and co-founder of Sea-Watch Ruben Neugebauer and PACE rapporteur Tineke Strik (SOC, Netherlands) will present their work and exchange views on the current situation in the Mediterranean and urgent action needed.

Italy and Malta’s refusal to allow the search and rescue ship Aquarius to dock with its rescued 630 migrants, subsequently taken in by Spain, has been followed by further refusals by Italy, including that of the Sea-Watch 3. International organisations and member States have not shown sufficient solidarity with countries at Europe’s borders, which are obliged to assume more than their share of humanitarian assistance to refugees fleeing war and oppression.     

At the end of 2014, Sea-Watch grew out of an initiative of volunteers who could no longer stand on the sidelines witnessing people dying in the Mediterranean Sea. It has so far been involved in the rescue of over 35 000 people. Sea-Watch is now calling on European states to immediately deploy sufficient rescue assets to the Mediterranean Sea and to abandon the Dublin III regulations in order to make way for a political solution.

Tineke Strik was PACE rapporteur for a landmark report in 2012 on "Lives lost in the Mediterranean: who’s responsible?” and will present a report in the hemicycle on Wednesday on “Human rights impact of the ‘external dimension’ of European Union asylum and migration policy: out of sight, out of rights?”.

Event reserved for staff members of Council of Europe.