Not helping smugglers Not a taxi for migrants Just saving their lives And you are out of order
MED CHARITIES HIT BACK AFTER BORDER AGENCY’S CLAIMS THEY HELP CRIMINAL GANGS Rescuers’ anger as collusion probe is launched
Rescue workers have rejected claims that their ef for ts are helping smugglers to traffic desperate migrants across the Mediterranean.
Accusations that charities aid criminal gangs were made by the EU’s border agency Frontex earlier this year.
And it emerged yesterday that magistrates in three Sicilian ports have opened investigations into possible col lusion between charities and Libyan traffickers.
It follows the decision of a Sicilian judge to impound the Iuventa, a ship operated by German non-profit group Jugend Rettet, which means Youth to the Rescue.
The suspects are said to include two skippers of the Iuventa and Father Mussie Zerai, an Eritrean priest who highlighted the plight of migrants in the Mediterranean.
Italian media claimed charities Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres are also under investigation.
Earlier this month, a Libyan coastguard vessel shot at Spanish rescue boat Open Arms.
Scots volunteers involved in trying to help migrants have hit out at accusations that they are assisting smugglers.
Former policeman Ian Leckie, original ly from Houston, Renfrewshire, said: “There’s a line between making people safe and helping them to cross.
“I’ve been volunteering in and around the Greek islands for two years now.
“In that time, I have never come across any registered or reputable charity people- traf f icking or colluding with the smugglers.
“I’ve never seen or heard any evidence of them even giving people advice on how to get across a border or anything like that.
“I’ve worked with a lot of groups and it’s not something which has ever come onto my radar.”
Ian got involved via the charity Solidarity Symi, set up by a friend to help desperate refugees.
He lef t his job w ith the Metropolitan Police this year and plans to get involved full-time.
Ian added: “I’d never advise anyone to travel illegally because it’s dangerous.
“Many people have died in the
Mediterranean attempting to cross it illegally.
“There’s been a trend of not looking at these people as individuals and a move to looking at them as blocks of Syrians or whatever. I feel people have lost a bit of humanity.”
Italy’s anti- establishment Five Star Movement have accused charities of providing a “taxi service” for migrants.
Libya has now ordered rescue boats to stay at least 79 nautical miles from its coast. Its territorial waters end after 12 nautical miles.
Rescuers have been backed by the University of London’s Forensic Oceanography department, who said the accusations were a “toxic narrative” that ignores the desperate situations migrants were fleeing from.
Firefighter Jim Snedden, a trainer with Scottish Fire and Rescue and a rescue swimmer, spent three weeks with charity Migrant Offshore Aid Station, in the Med last year.
The dad-of-three, from Dunblane, a Sunday Mail Great Scot nominee, is returning to the Med next month with MOAS as a rescue swimmer.
Jim said: “I’ve been there and experienced it. I’ve dealt with people who’ve been tortured, raped and put into slavery. We’re all humans and we all deserve a chance to be safe.
“It’s not about encouraging people to go from, for example, Libya to Sicily, it’s about rescuing people who are in danger at sea.
“For me, I have a family and I would like to think that if we experience extreme hardship there would be someone there to help.
“If the people involved had a choice, they wouldn’t drag an 18-month- old son or daughter across lawless countries and into danger at sea.
“They’re being forced on to these boats which are not safe. If I believed for one minute that rescuers were assisting in people smuggling, I wouldn’t be involved.”
Isle of Coll- based photographer Mathieu Willcocks spent months at sea with MOAS.
His images of the plight of migrants were published in the Sunday Mail and won him a World Press Photo Awards.
He said: “The claim that charities or rescuers are aiding people smugglers is an argument that has no basis in fact.
“From my own experience, there was no evidence of any help being given to people smugglers directly or indirectly.
“These are charities with important reputat ions to maintai n . The suggestion they would in some way collude with smugglers makes no sense.
“Migrants have been lied to and given unseaworthy boats with not enough fuel for the journey. Why would we get involved with or help people like that?”
He added: “This seaborne migration is already happening, so to suggest charities are assisting it is illogical.
“I saw no evidence which would corroborate the claim that rescuers or charities help the people smugglers either intentionally or unintentionally.
“When you have thousands of people in the water surely you have to do something?
“Maritime law states when you see a ship in distress, you should do something to help. It’s basic humanity.”
Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres yesterday said they had received no official confirmation of any probe into their activities in the Med.
Both charities strongly reject claims of collusion.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was “a heinous accusation” and that prosecutors had not produced any supporting evidence.
Save the Children said they would take legal action to protect their reputation from “false and defamatory information” spread by employees of a security company that had operated on their ships.