[Area] Dichiarazione di Medel sul dovere di soccorso in mare e Proactiva Open Arms

[Mariarosaria Guglielmi]

Trasmetto la dichiarazione adottata da Medel il 31 marzo 2018 sul dovere di
soccorso  in mare e Proactiva Open Arms ( in allegato la traduzione)

 

Mariarosaria

MEDEL Book

MEDEL DECLARATION

SOLIDARITY WITH “PROACTIVA OPEN ARMS”

Migration is part of our history and part of the history of our nations and
civilization.

As MEDEL recalled in the Palma Declaration for Refugees and Migrants of 11
March 2017[1], migration is nowadays the story of a huge humanitarian
tragedy taking place in front of our eyes, in our seas, where thousands of
migrants, escaping from war and starvation, lose their lives. 

The same tragedy continues in Libyan detention centres, where migrants are
systematically denied their fundamental right to asylum and the possibility
to reach the countries where this right can be assessed and eventually
granted. In addition to this, they are also victims of inhuman and degrading
treatment, as recently confirmed by the UN secretary general on the basis of
the inquiry of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya[2].

In view of the migration flows that we are experiencing nowadays no one can
feel as a passive witness.  Ginetta Sagan once wrote “silence in the face of
injustice is complicity with the oppressor”.

What is going on right now in the Mediterranean puts seriously into question
the democratic identity of Europe, as well as the universality and
indivisibility of the fundamental rights that are part of its moral and
spiritual heritage, for the enjoyment of which the European Union took over
“responsibilities and duties” towards the whole human community and future
generations. Such responsibilities and duties impose Europe the obligation
to put an end to tragedies at sea, to take migrants to a safe place with the
absolute prohibition, as stated by several international treaties and our
European Courts[3], of a refoulement to places where they run the risk of
suffering torture and/or inhuman or degrading treatments. 

To rescue migrants at sea and taking them to a safe place represents not
only a legal obligation but also a moral duty. 

During these years, the activity of NGOs has counteracted the passivity of
States and Europe, ensuring the only way to guarantee the lives of thousands
of migrants at risk in the Mediterranean by taking them to safe place, and
by that responding to the “ethical imperative” that imposes putting in the
first place the life and physical integrity of refugees in severe situations
of vulnerability. 

Thanks to the rescue operations of “Proactiva Open Arms”, 59.000 migrants
were saved from drowning in the Mediterranean, that way preventing the
already-shameful-number of deaths recorded this year to increase. As a
recognition to the value of this humanitarian work, which represents the
practical translation of a strong commitment for the defence of fundamental
rights in the name of solidarity and human dignity that are part of our
civilization and culture, MEDEL has decided to nominate “Proactiva Open
Arms” for the 2018 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe.

While confirming our full respect for the decisions issued by the judicial
authorities about the rescue operations that “Proactiva Open Arms” performed
on 15 March 2018, we deem appropriate to recall that the assessment of the
legality of a rescue mission at sea cannot disregard the primacy of
ensuring, in any circumstance, the safety of migrants and the humanitarian
goals underlying all rescue operations. 

We here recall the statement of MEDEL of October 7th, 2013[4], which is
still unfortunately valid: in the preamble of the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union, the European Nations have clearly stated that
“the Union is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity,
freedom, equality and solidarity” and that “enjoyment of these rights
entails responsibilities and duties with regard to other persons, to the
human community and to future generations”.

It is time for the European Union to prove that those are not meaningless
words.  

 

March 31st, 2018

 




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[1] Available here: 

http://www.medelnet.eu/index.php/news/europe/371-medel-palma-declaration-for
-refugees-and-migrants

 

[2] See also, Hirsi Jamaa and others v. Italy [GC], no. 27765/09, paragraphs
33 to 42, as well as paragraphs 123 to 138 where the European Court of Human
Rights enumerated and analysed the most relevant international material
concerning the situation of migrants in Libya.

[3] See, inter alia, ECtHR, Saadi v. Italy [GC], no. 37201, M.S.S. v.
Belgium and Greece [GC], no, 30696/09, Tarakhel v. Switzerland [GC], no.
29217/12 y Paposhvili v. Belgium [GC], no. 41738/10.

 

[4]
http://www.medelnet.eu/index.php/news/europe/210-medel-calls-for-new-immigra
tion-rules

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