NGOs saving lives in the Mediterranean quarrelling with Malta in line for EU top prize

NGOs who say that Malta is hindering their work to save lives at sea are in line to win one of the EU’s top prizes.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is awarded each year by the European Parliament. It was set up in 1988 to honour individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. 2018 marks 30 years since the Sakharov Prize was first conferred.

Eleven NGOs protecting human rights and saving migrant lives across the Mediterranean Sea were jointly nominated and are now one of three finalists. The NGOs are: Boat Refugee Foundation, Jugend Rettet, Mission Lifeline, Médecins Sans Frontières International, MOAS, Proactiva Open Arms, PROEM-AID, Save the Children, Sea Eye, Sea Watch, and SOS Mediterranée. According to the EU Parliament’s website, they were nominated by the S&D party (of which the PL forms part) and the Greens/EFA party.

Some of the NGOs listed have had direct issues with the Maltese government. As an example, Sea Watch said last September that “it is holding the Maltese government responsible for ‘deliberately and arbitrarily’ detaining the ship Sea-Watch 3 for over two months without legal justification and rather on a merely political basis.”

“This is a conscious attempt to hinder the rescue of people in distress on the Central Mediterranean. We consider letting power dynamics blatantly override the rule of law a non-tolerable attitude for a constitutional state and rather shameful,” the NGO had said.

The Maltese government this past summer had detained a number of NGO assets, citing different reasons. The NGOs however, argue that it is for political reasons.

Another NGO at odds with Malta is Project Lifeline. Lifeline activists recently protested in Valletta against the government’s decision to “hold hostage” three rescue ships.

Mission Lifeline Captain ClausPeter Reisch is currently charged in Malta with, as captain of the vessel Lifeline, entering Maltese territorial waters illegally and without proper registration and a licence. The prosecuting officers are also requesting the court to order the confiscation of the ship.

Following a joint vote by MEPs in the Foreign Affairs and Development committees on Tuesday, the three finalists for the 2018 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought were selected. The other two finalists are Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and Moroccan political activist Nasser Zefzafi.

Last year, the prize was given to the democratic opposition in Venezuela. It is named in honour of Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov.

The European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents (President and political group’s leaders) will select the final laureate on 25 October. The prize will be awarded in a ceremony in Parliament’s hemicycle in Strasbourg on 12 December.