Join the Rescue! Donate to rescue operations on the Mediterranean

 

Since 2015, more than 11,600 people have drowned in their flight across the central Mediterranean route. However, the potentially large unreported death toll is difficult to determine. Nevertheless, Europe doesn't take responsibility for this indescribable suffering at its external borders. There are no state-led rescue programs. Those refugees who do not undertake the life-threatening voyage on the high seas have to persevere in Libyan camps, where they are demonstrably facing violence and forced labor. At the same time, humanitarian aid is being criminalized. 

 

WE DO NOT WANT TO PASSIVELY STAND BY ON THE SIDELINES. 

JUGEND RETTET is a network of young Europeans, who bought and converted a ship in 2016. We did what the government did not do - save people from distress. 

With our ship, the IUVENTA, we rescued people from distress for almost two2 years. In total, our Crews prevented more than 14,000 people from dying. We counter the perceived situation of political powerlessness by formulating and executing concrete action plans. 

 

On 1 August 2017, the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) ordered the IUVENTA to Lampedusa, Italy. Subsequently, it was seized preventively by Italian authorities. 

 

CRIMINALIZATION OF SEA RESCUE 

The aim of European migration policy is to close the humanitarian corridor. In order to achieve this, the NGOs active in the Mediterranean will be kept from rescue operations. The situation escalated in a campaign of slander and criminalisation, which falsely accused us of co-operation with smugglers. 

As a rescue organisation, we observe the instructions of the responsible authority, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, in Italy. Our rescue missions are based on international maritime law and are based on internationally recognised humanitarian principles. 

The Italian prosecutor's office uses statements and accusations from right-wing circles with the intention of sealing off fortress Europe even more brutally at its external borders. Dubious evidence from the sphere of the right-wing extremist Identitarian movement is used in the politically motivated campaign against the NGOs. 

 

Concerning donations, this means that we currently have to cover costs that are not always directly related to our core task of rescue missions, but with political and legal work. We need your assistance with legal fees, translations, costs for the shipyard in Trapani, as well as political and educational events. 

We will continue to work to ensure that the right to life, and thus the right to life-saving, remains upheld. 

We thank you for your trust in our work and hope that you continue to support us in standing up for fundamental rights - every human deserves rescue from distress!