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Category: Watch the Med Alarm Phone

  • persbericht WTM: Door de EU ingecalculeerde en gemonitorde doden op de Middellandse Zee

    Meer info over WatchTheMed Alarmtelefoon

    27 mei 2017

    Persbericht van WatchTheMed Alarmtelefoon in reactie op de situatie op de centrale Middellandse Zee en de tragische gebeurtenissen gisteren 26 mei 2016.

    Door de EU ingecalculeerde en gemonitorde doden op de Middellandse Zee

    Gisteren, donderdag 26 mei, duurde het meer dan vier uur voordat reddingsschepen arriveerden. Vier uur vol zorgen en pogingen de angstige mensen aan boord van een overvolle houten boot te ondersteunen. In een SOS telefoongesprek heeft ons WatchTheMed Alarmtelefoon shift team om 6:21 uur de GPS-coördinaten aan het Italiaanse Maritiem Reddings Coördinatie Centrum (MRCC) in Rome doorgegeven. Kort daarvoor kregen wij een noodoproep vanaf een satelliet telefoon ongeveer 70 km ten noordoosten van de Libische plaats Zuwara. De beller informeerde ons over de boot waar hij op zat en een tweede boot waarmee ze samen waren, elk met 500 mensen, onder wie een groot aantal Syrische en Iraakse vluchtelingen. Om 10:31 uur naderde eindelijk redding, maar een uur eerder was de tweede boot al gekapseisd, binnen gezichtsveld van de eerste boot. We hebben contact met de boten gehad van 6.21 tot 10.31 CET, daarna hebben we het contact verloren. Om 9.20 hoorden we via de contactpersoon op de boot over een groot aantal overledenen, verdronken in de zee. Tot nu toe is het onduidelijk hoeveel mensen zijn overleden. MRCC Rome heeft in hun dagelijks rapport een gekapseisde boot en 96 overlevenden gemeld. Dodelijke slachtoffers werden niet genoemd terwijl die er duidelijk in grote aantallen zijn. De particuliere reddingsboot Sea-Watch*, die aan het begin van de middag op de noodplek aankwam, vertelde ons dat ze veel dode lichamen aantroffen en de levende mensen er tussenuit hebben gered.

    Ingecalculeerde sterfgevallen
    In de afgelopen drie dagen zijn er weer duizenden vluchtelingen en migranten vanaf de Libische kust vertrokken op overvolle boten op weg naar Sicilië: Ongeveer 2600 mensen op dinsdag, 3000 op woensdag en 4000 gisteren, donderdag. Niemand kan nog beweren hierover verrast te zijn, zeker niet degenen die verantwoordelijk zijn voor het migratiebeleid van de EU. Maar ze weigeren de fatale visumregeling af te schaffen en veilige routes mogelijk te maken. Integendeel: de Balkanroute die migratiebewegingen met veel strijd vorige zomer geopend kregen is met veel geweld afgelopen februari hermetisch gesloten. Onder de slachtoffers van gisteren in de centrale Middellandse Zee zijn Syrische en Iraakse vluchtelingen die waarschijnlijk als ze gekund hadden via de Balkanroute hadden gereisd in plaats van te kiezen voor de langere er gevaarlijkere route via Libië naar Italië. Door de sluiting van de Balkanroute en de inhumane EU-Turkije deal worden vluchtelingen die aankomen in Griekenland gevangen gehouden op de Griekse eilanden met de dreiging naar Turkije gedeporteerd te worden. Terwijl diegenen die zich op het Griekse vasteland bevinden in de ellende achtergelaten worden zonder enig perspectief het land binnenkort te kunnen verlaten en continue met valse informatie en angstaanjagerij geconfronteerd wordend. Deze politieke veranderingen forceren vluchtelingen de veel gevaarlijkere route via Libië te nemen.

    Gemonitorde sterfgevallen
    Al bijna één jaar nu probeert de militaire operatie EUNVFOR MED / Sophia de centrale Middellandse Zee te controleren tussen Libië en Italië. De focus van deze operatie ligt in de bestrijding van de zogenaamde smokkelnetwerken. Deze ‘smokkelaar-jagers’ zijn uitgerust met high-tech apparatuur, de zone voor de kust van Libië is een van de best bewaakte maritieme plaatsen ter wereld. Hoe moeilijk kan het zijn om een klein surveillance vliegtuig elk uur langs deze bekende migratie route te sturen om vluchtelingenboten te lokaliseren en mensen direct te redden? In plaats daarvan zijn het opnieuw de Italiaanse kustwacht, particuliere initiatieven en NGO’s die zich tot het uiterste moeten inspannen om verlichting te bieden op de rampplekken en te redden wie er te redden valt. Als ze vervolgens overlevenden naar Sicilië vervoeren ontbreken daar simpelweg capaciteiten voor voedsel, onderdak en humane procedures voor bijvoorbeeld gezinshereniging.

    Situaties zoals gisteren zijn blijkbaar gewenst door de verantwoordelijke autoriteiten: het sterven op zee gaat door. Ze zijn te stoppen, natuurlijk heeft de welvarende en technologisch geavanceerde EU hier de capaciteiten en kennis voor, maar er wordt moedwillig voor gekozen deze niet in te zetten. Rampen worden zolang mogelijk verborgen gehouden, kleiner voorgedaan of gebagatelliseerd om nieuwe publieke protesten te voorkomen.

    Wij roepen het uit, nog eens en keer op keer, over de massa’s doden aan ‘onze’ grenzen de afgelopen 20 jaar, en de doden van gisteren. Als er open en veilige migratieroutes waren dan zou niemand moeten sterven op zee. Het sterven op zee is geen natuurramp die ons overkomt en ook geen toeval. Het is in feite de berekende uitkomst van de EU grensbewaking en visumregeling. Het sterven op zee is door de mens gemaakt en zou morgen al de geschiedenis in kunnen verdwijnen als een duister hoofdstuk. Door de grenzen te openen en toegang tot de veerboten te realiseren.

    De lange zomer van migratie in de Balkan heeft aangetoond dat zodra grenzen open zijn er geen ‘smokkelaars’ meer zijn. Men betaalt alleen hoge bedragen en neemt gevaarlijke wegen wanneer men daartoe gedwongen wordt door Frontex en co.

    Een wereld zonder grenzen is mogelijk en zowel Frontex als ook de ‘smokkelaars’ zouden dan zijn verdwenen.
    Daarom zeggen zeggen wij: Ferries niet Frontex

    WatchTheMed Alarmtelefoon (27.05.2016)

    WTM Alarmtelefoon biedt onafhankelijk ondersteuning en solidariteit aan migranten die de Middellandse Zee oversteken op weg naar de EU.

    Meer info over WatchTheMed alarmtelefoon project:
    http://alarmphone.org/en/
    http://watchthemed.net/
    https://twitter.com/alarm_phone

    * Meer info collega organisatie Sea Watch:
    http://sea-watch.org/nl/

    ****************************************************************
    Attachment:
    Excerpts from the WTM-AP log book entries:

    2016_05_25-CM-two boats in distress, direct call
    Number of the boat: 0088216….376

    5:25am, we received a direct call from a Thuraya number. The person speaks Arabic so we cannot understand. All we can hear is “Libya” and “Italy”. It sounds like they might be on a boat as there are engine sounds in the back.

    5:34am, Our translator gets back to us and says that the man was talking about 2 big boats that had left from Libya. Apparently they called the Italian coastguards but they were not responding. And
    apparently he spoke of 1000 people on the boats!

    5:40-5.50: We try to call the Thuraya number in different ways but cannot reach them. In between we checked their Thuraya credit and it was good, over 70. We checked again a few minutes later and it had gone down to 69.71.

    6.10am: We call the Italian coastguards and we pass on the Thuraya number. He checks and then says that they have the same number. Apparently they were called by the boat but had the same problem that we had: they could not establish their position.

    6.16am: their credit has minimally decreased, 69.22 now.

    6.17am: We reached the man on the boat. We try to give him instructions on how to find the GPS position on Thuraya but the call was cut off. In the meantime, credit has gone down to 62.77

    6.20-6.40: We receive more information from the boatpeople:

    26.21am: We received their coordinates: N033 Deg 018’014.242 E012 Deg 29’037.940. The man is in panic and says they are about to sink. There are two boats, one boat is in a bad condition. The boats are metal boats (but later it became clear that they were wooden boats).

    6.29-6.35am: We call MRCC Rome again and pass on the new details and the coordinates which they take.

    6.51am: Credit has gone down to 56.32

    6:58: We send an Email to MRCC and others with all details.

    7:56am: the people on the boat called us again and we asked them to send us an update of their position. we receive the new position at 7.58: N33 23’57,062; E12 29’45.553

    8:00am: we called MRCC Rome again, we provided them with the new coordinates.

    8:12am: we sent an email to MRCC Rome and all the contacts we have, asking for urgent help and providing them with the new coordinates

    8:19am: we received new GPS coordinates: N033 Deg 025’024.298 E012 Deg 029’052.131

    8:21am: Credit on the phone of the migrants on the boats is 41

    8:23am: the people on the boats called and told us, one of the big wooden boats is cracking and water started to fill the boat in the under level (the boat has obviously two levels), the people are trying desperately to empty the boat from water. in total there are around 1030 people on the three boats, the boats are made of wood. one of the big boats is dragging the other, on the small boat are 30 people. NEW: there are now three boats, because the two big boats, which were our case already the whole morning, we’re crossing a third, small boat with migrant persons, and they continued to go on together, one big boat towing the two other boats!!!!

    08:30am: we called the Italian Augusta Offshore company because their commercial boat ASSO VENTIQUATTRO IMO 9235294 is really close to the boats in distress. They provided us with their operations department number which could give us the number of the ship Asso Ventiquattro, but the operation center opens not before 9am, so we have to wait…

    8:35am: Credit from the Thuraya-phone on the boat is 39.5

    8.35am: we tried calling another boat that is close called MInerva Zen (there main center is in Ukraine), but the call didn’t go through

    8.40am: we called the Malta coastguard. they already know about the boats and are working on the case. we updated them. they have another 17 cases or so they are working on. they said they are doing their best. the operator was very stressed on the phone.

    8:45am: the people on the boat are calling, they told us one of the boats just sank, 500 people are in the water and many already died …

    8:47am: the boat people confirmed that we should call Libyan coast guard, we tried to reach the Libyan Coast Guard. We also decided to call the Tunisian Coast Guard and explained them the distress situation, gave them all the infos we have.

    309:00am: we call the operational center of the Augusta Offshore Company and explain the situation. They say that their ship ASSO VENTIQUATTRO already knows about the case (they were contacted by MRCC rom) and that it is on his way there now, going to help rescuing the people on the sinking boat

    9.18am: obviously a lot of different “players” are informed about the case (MRCC Italy in Rome, Malta, Sea-Eye, Sea-Watch, private ships…) and going to help, but until now the migrants didn’t see any ships close to them.

    9.20am: contact to the people on the boat: a lot of people already dead, our contact on the boat saw people drowning. They asked us where they should heading to, they’re 100 km away from Sabratah on the Libyan Coast and try to head in direction of Lampedusa. One big boat is broken, the second big Boat is now leaking too, the small boat is fine, but already full of people

    9:28am: credit of the Thuraya-phone on the boat: 33

    9.29am: we informed everybody, staying in touch with the people on the boat, but for the rest we’re helpless

    9.48am: we sent an SOS email with updates on the sinking boat:
    Hello,
    Thanks to everyone who is involved, we are aware that there are more than 10 boats, so thank you for your efforts. We have received unfortunate information that one of the boats sank already around the position N033 Deg 023’057.062 E012 Deg 029’045.553. A lot of people died. But for sure, there are people who know how to swim and most probably they can be saved and pulled from the water.
    Thank you,
    xy Watch the Med Alarm Phone

    09:56am: We called the Libyan coast guard, they were friendly, maybe because we were talking in Arabic with them, they got all the info and will help as soon as possible

    10:00am: no answer from the people on the boats

    10:03am: the people on the boats saw a ship, they estimate the distance 15 minutes away from them, but then the ship disappeared. we asked for new coordinates and urged them to use whatever objects they have that can reflect the light of the sun and use it in all direction to help
    ships spot them

    10:05am: Since a long time we’re watching the “Minerva Zen”, the Ship from the ukrainian company, on Vesselfinder.com cruising around specific coordinates: N33 12 E12 42, looking like searching for
    something. This zone is close to the boat-people, but not exactly their latest coordinates we have. “Asso Ventiquattro”, the italian Ship, is obviously also cruising more or less around the same area like the Minerva Zen

    10:06am: credit of Thuraya phone on the boat is 22.6;

    10.15am: the people on the boat do not answer

  • Video Watch the Med (4.55)

  • 1 jaar Watch the Med Alarmphone: ‘Moving on’

    Watch the Med Alarmphone is actief sinds 11 Oktober 2014. Sindsdien zijn we in teams 24/7 bereikbaar voor migranten in nood op de Middellandse Zee. Inmiddels zijn we gegroeid tot een transnationale groep met 120 mensen uit tientallen landen. We zijn onafhankelijk, kritisch en activistisch, en volgen de dubbelzinnige praktijken van de kustwachten en Frontex op de voet. In het eerste jaar zijn we betrokken geweest bij meer dan 1200 alarm situaties. Over dit eerste jaar is nu de brochure ‘Moving on’ verschenen met daarin onze ervaringen en evaluaties. Het was een cruciaal jaar in de geschiedenis van migratie, met veel repressie en indrukwekkend doorzettingsvermogen van vele mensen die ondanks alle barricades die opgeworpen werden door bleven gaan met het opeisen van hun rechten. Door niet meer naar politici, grenswachten en politie te luisteren en door te blijven gaan, vaak lopend, totdat een gewenste bestemming is bereikt.

    De Alarmtelefoon is na het eerste jaar helaas niet onnodig geworden. Januari 2016 was een extreem dodelijke maand voor migranten op de Egeische Zee en ook de eerste week van februari liegt er niet om. De Watch the Med Alarmphone teams worden dagelijks geconfronteerd met omgeslagen boten en verdrinkingsdood. Zeker 257 migranten zijn in januari verdronken tijdens de gevaarlijke tocht tussen Turkije en Griekenland en zeker 26 mensen zijn dood gegaan op hun weg van Libië naar Italië. Migratie over de Middellandse zee houdt ook in de wintermaanden, uit bittere noodzaak. In januari hebben 60.000 mensen Griekenland bereikt via de Middellandse Zee. Dit is vergelijkbaar met de aantallen in de zomer (juli 2015: 55.000).  De wintermaanden zijn echter veel gevaarlijker, vanwege de weersomstandigheden: de sterke wind en de kou maken de reis veel riskanter. Maar aanhoudende oorlog en conflicten, slechte omstandigheden in de regio, en spierballentaal van de Europese Unie over het verder optrekken van de EU grenzen, maken dat mensen toch in grote getale hun levens wagen.

    Het politieke beleid en de lobby gaat van kwaad tot erger. Afgelopen weekend was er veel aandacht voor de Turks-Syrische grens, waar duizenden Syriers gevlucht uit een gebombardeerd Aleppo wachtten op veiligheid. De Europese Unie roept Turkije op de grenzen open te stellen voor vluchtelingen. Maar de EU onderhandelt ondertussen al maanden met Turkije om mensen tegen te houden vanuit Turkije naar Europa door te reizen. Daarbovenop worden plannen gesmeed om mensen die aankomen in de EU direct terug te sturen naar Turkije als veilig derde land en dus mensen hun recht op het vragen van asiel in een EU staat te ontnemen.
    Dat er al meer dan 3 miljoen vluchtelingen in erbarmelijke omstandigheden verblijven in Turkije en dat Turkije het niet zo nauw neemt met de mensenrechten, wordt voor het gemak ook even vergeten.

    Waar zijn we in de EU zo bang voor? Wordt het niet eens tijd om onze rijkdom en welvaart te delen met de mensen die er de dupe van zijn geworden? Wij vinden van wel. Maar in plaats daarvan zien we een toenemende repressie tegen migranten en vrijwillige hulpverleners. Migranten worden in dystopische situaties aan hun lot overgelaten: op de reis naar de kust van Libië, Marokko en Turkije, in het water, op de Griekse eilanden en aan de Macedonische grens. Het is ongekend en staat in het grootst mogelijke contrast met de welvaart die we in Europa als burgers met een Europees paspoort genieten.
    De nieuwste tactieken van Fort Europa richten zich op de solidaire burgerinitiatieven op de Griekse eilanden. Deze zijn nu punt van aandacht geworden: ze worden gecontroleerd en gecriminaliseerd in de hoop ze aan banden te leggen.

    Politici spreken al sinds de zomer over een vluchtelingencrisis. Watch the Med Alarmphone is ervan overtuigd dat migratie niet te beheersen is. Het enige dat beleidsmakers in de hand kunnen hebben is hoeveel mensen er tijdens hun reis omkomen. Wat dat betreft zou het interessant zijn om te bedenken wat er zou gebeuren als Samsom’s voorgestelde veerboten de andere kant op zouden varen, en juist mensen naar Europa zou brengen. Gewoon een ticket kopen en niemand meer die zijn leven hoeft te wagen.

    De brochure is online te bekijken:
    http://alarmphone.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2016/01/AP-1year-Doku-Screen-04-DS.pdf

    Samenvattingen van alarmsituaties en hun afloop zijn te vinden op:
    http://www.watchthemed.net/

    http://alarmphone.org/en/2016/01/31/weekly-reports-january-2016-one-of-the-deadliest-months-ever-in-the-aegean-sea/?post_type_release_type=post

  • Watch the Med Alarm Phone

    For Boatpeople in Distress at Sea and in Cases of Pushback

    Campaign “Ferries not Frontex” towards an open Mediterranean space! (march 2016)

    WTM Alarmphone verklaring 1 jarig bestaan (12 okt. 2015)

    In solidarity with migrants at sea! The Alarm Phone 3 years on with dutch press release

    Moving On – 1 Year Alarm Phone Brochure and the many remarkable experiences made by Alarm Phone members in the project’s first year of existence (23 jan. 2016) with dutch press release

    News, Reports & Investigations

    THIS NUMBER IS NOT A RESCUE NUMBER!
    But an ALARM NUMBER to support rescue operations!

    What to do if you are in distress at sea or getting pushed back:
    1. Call first the coast guards and tell them about your situation of distress
    2. Then call the Alarm Phone
    3. Note that we cannot rescue, we do not have boats or helicopters
    4. We will make sure that your distress call is noted and acted upon
    5. If you are not promptly rescued by the coast guards we will inform the public media and politicians to put pressure on the rescue services.

    —————————————————————————————————

    Alarm Phone Nr.:  + 334 86 51 71 61

    —————————————————————————————————

    We know coastguards act quite differently. There are areas where they do their job well and rescue promptly. But refugees also report that they get pushed back by coast guards or are treated violently. When a distress call is received, we will call the coast guards ourselves, and follow up on their response, making known to them that we are informed and ‘watching’ them. We want to support you in protecting your lives and your right of freedom of movement.

    FAQ (10 questions posed to the WTM alarm phone project),

    Safety at Sea / Instructions for a Distress Call.

    Transnational Monitoring against the deadly injustice at sea! (how Watch the Med works) and

    Risks,Rights &Safety at Sea (informations for people considering to cross the sea).

    For a push back operation, see “They want to see us drown” – Survivors of a push back operation in the Aegean Sea report 16.11.2014 / Chios/Greece-Cesme/Turkey

    For the deadly delays in rescue operations, see the exemplary case from the 11th of October 2013 when more than 200 boat people drowned: Shipwreck 11th of October 2013.

    For general information about the situation in certain european countries for refugees – see: w2eu.info / welcome to europe

    Moet een kapitein een bootje met migranten in nood redden? (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

     

    [Press Release, 8th of October 2014] *Watch The Med Alarm Phone against Left-to-die cases at Sea* »Our project is no solution, but an emergency intervention«

    Call for “Watch The Med Alarm Phone” for Boatpeople

    (signatures below!)

    11th of October 2013: Refugees from a sinking boat called again and again Italian coastguards via satellite phone in order to be rescued, but their SOS signals were not taken seriously. The boat carried more than 400 people and was shot at in the night before by a Libyan vessel. Despite the Italian and soon later the Maltese authorities having been warned of the imminent distress of the passengers, rescue efforts were delayed for several hours and patrol vessels arrived one hour after the boat had sunk. More than 200 people died, only 212 people were saved.

    What would have happened if the boatpeople could have directed a second call to an independent phone-hotline through which a team of civil society members could raise alarm and put immediate pressure on authorities to rescue?

    One year after the tragedy from Lampedusa on the 3rd of October     and after the left-to-die case mentioned above, the situation is no less dramatic. Although the Italian military operation “mare nostrum” led to the rescue of about 100.000 refugees and migrants within the last 11 months, only in the central Mediterranean area more than 1300 boatpeople became new victims of the border-regime. In the beginning of 2014 we witnessed more death at the external borders of EU: on the 20th of January 12 refugees died when their vessel sunk while being towed at high speed by a vessel of the Greek Coast Guard aiming to push it back towards the Turkish coast.
    And on the 6th of February the Spanish border guards shot with plastic-bullets at swimming migrants who tried to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. More than 14 people died as a result.

    These cases are not isolated    , but rather the most obvious amongst many similarly deadly violations perpetrated against migrants at sea throughout the Mediterranean. Would these deaths have occurred had civil society been informed and had exercised its pressure and influence before rather than after the incidents?
    We can no longer bear to remain helpless as tragedies repeat themselves. We want to do more than condemning these violations after the incidents. We believe that an alternative alarm network established by the civil society on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea could make a difference.

    We neither possess any rescue-teams, nor can we offer direct protection. We are aware of our limited capabilities and of the provisional and precarious character of our initiative. But we want to immediately raise alarm when refugees and migrants get into situations of distress at sea and are not rescued promptly. We want to document in real-time and scandalize immediately when boatpeople become victims of push-back operations or are sent back to countries such as Libya, where migrant rights are repeatedly violated. We want to intervene with political pressure and public mobilisation against the daily injustices at the external borders of the EU.

    We know that such pressure can be effective because it has been exercised already for several years by a few individuals who, through family and solidarity ties, have received phone calls from migrants at sea, alerted authorities and made sure that rescue operations had been carried out. We want to broaden and strengthen this network and reinforce its political role in support of migrant rights and the freedom of movement.
    Thus we aim to establish – in close cooperation with the monitoring project Watch The Med – an alternative alarm-phone running 24/7 as of the 10th of October 2014. It will be managed by human rights activists from both sides of the Mediterranean and offer a multilingual team. We will advise all persons in distress at sea to first alert the officially responsible rescue teams. But we will also call the coast guards ourselves, and follow up on their responses, making known to them that we are informed and “watching” them. If they fail to respond, we will gather all imaginable political and public pressure to force them to do so.
    We will alarm captains of commercial boats close by as well as international journalists, requesting the support of politically active religious leaders of all confessions as well as support of famous supporters. We will use the critical net-community for just-in-time-campaigns and call everybody to contribute with the creation of further forms of intervention.

    The left-to-die cases at sea, the human right violations of the EU border agency Frontex and coast guards in all areas of the Mediterranean Sea have to be stopped immediately. We need a civil society network on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea which can enforce political pressure for the lives and the rights of boatpeople, and we want to be part of it.

    Such an alternative alarm network would be a first but an urgently required step on the path toward a Euro-Mediterranean area that is not characterised by a deadly border regime but by solidarity and the right for protection and the freedom of movement.

    An Initiative of: Welcome to Europe  |  Afrique Europe Interact  |  borderline-europe  |  Noborders Marocco  |  Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration  |  Voix des Migrantes

    Signatures for the call:

    Madjiguene Cisse, former Sans-Papier-Movement in Paris, Dakar | Étienne Balibar, Philosopher, Paris | Elfriede Jelinek, Author & Nobel Literature Prize Winner, Vienna | Fr. Mussie Zerai, Habeshia Agency, Rome | Mohanad Jammo, Physician & Survivor of 11.10.13 Shipwreck, Aleppo/Bad Bergzabern | Fabrizio Gatti, Journalist, Rome | Jean Ziegler, former U.N., Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Geneva  |  Emmanuel Mbolela, author of ‘Mein Weg vom Kongo nach Europa’, Amsterdam  |  Boats4People  |  Imed Soltani, La Terre pour Tous, Tunis | José Palazon, Pro.De.In, Melilla | Mikel Araguas, Andalucia Acoge | Conseil des Migrants Subsahariens au Maroc | Petja Dimitrova, Artist, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna | Antonio Negri, Philosopher, Paris | Nina Kusturica, Filmmaker, Vienna | Network of Social Support to Refugees and Migrants, Athens | Gabriele del Grande, Journalist, Milano | Jesuit Refugee Service Schweiz | Stiftung:do, Hamburg | Ousmane Diarra, AME (Association Malienne des Expulsés), Bamako |  Stefan Schmidt, Captain of Cap Anamur 2004, Refugee-Commissioner of Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck | FTDES (Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Économiques et Sociaux), Tunis | ODS, Sevilla | Karl Kopp, Director of European Affairs PRO ASYL and ECRE, Frankfurt | Amadou Mbow, AMDH (Association Mauritanienne des Droits de l’Homme), Nouakchott | Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, L‘Altro Diritto, Sicilia |  Elias Bierdel, 2002-2004 Leiter der Cap Anamur, Austria | Martin Glasenapp, Medico International, Frankfurt | Patrice Boukar Zinahad, A.R.A.CE.M (Association des Refoulés d’Afrique Centrale au Mali), Bamako | KEERFA – Movement Against Racism & Fascist Threat, Athens | ATMF, France | ARCI, Italy | Ferenc Kőszeg, Honorary Chairman of the Hungarian Helsinki-Committee, Budapest | Borderline Sicilia Onlus | Sandro Mezzadra, Border and Migration Researcher, Bologna | Osaren Igbinoba, The Voice Refugee Forum, Jena | Solidarité sans Frontières, Switzerland | Village all together, Mytilini | Association Les voix libres, Strasbourg | Article 13, Tunis | Daniel Moundzego, ARSF (Association des Refugees Sans Frontieres), Douala | Ilias Panchard, Co-Präsident Junge Grüne Schweiz, Lausanne | All Included, Amsterdam | MigSzol – Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary | Humanistische Union, Germany | Barbed Wire Britain | Balthasar Glättli, Fraktionspräsident Grüne, Schweiz  |  Orcun Ulusoy, Researcher, The Hague | Maria Bacchi, Comitato Scientifico Fondazione Langer, Bolzano & Associazione Mantova Solidale | Chabaka, Tanger  |  Antiracist Initiative of Thessaloniki |  Gergishu Yohannes, Initiative gegen Tod im Mittelmeer 2009 e.V. Bonn  |  Karl Heinz Roth, Social Historian & Physician, Hamburg  |  Michael Genner, Asyl in Not, Vienna  |  Conseil des Migrants France  |  CADTM Europe  |  Africa con voz propia  |  APDHA, Spain  |  The Refugee Councils, Germany  |  David Fedele, Filmmaker, Sydney  |  Franck Düvell, Researcher, COMPAS, Oxford  |  ALECMA (Association Lumiére sur l`Emigration Clandestine au Maghreb)  |  Rete Antirazzista Catanese  |  Comitato NoMuos/NoSigonella, Catania  |  Paolo Cutitta, Migration researcher, Amsterdam  |  Federica Sossi, Università di Bergamo  |  Hélène Yamta, La Voix des Femmes Migrantes, Rabat  |  Sabine Hess, Leiterin des Labors für kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung, Göttingen  |  Campaign to Close Campsfield  |  Luciana Zarini, retired teacher, Palermo  |  Maria Rosa Ragonese, teacher, Palermo  |  Association Horizons Migrants; bordermonitoring.eu  |  Wolf Dieter Narr and Dirk Vogelskamp, Commitee for Basic Rights and Democracy, Berlin/Cologne  |  Ahmed Jlassi, Filmmaker and University teacher, Tunis  |  Atmf (Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins de France). section Bas-Rhin  |  U.D.E.ES, l’union des étudiants de Strasbourg  |  CCFD-terre solidaire Strasbourg  |  Hatem Gheribi, Tunisien, Strasbourg  |  Mehdi Mohamed Amadir, Moroccan, Strasbourg  |  Omar Naman, Syrian refugee, Strasbourg  |  ATTAC Liège  |  Initiativkreis MenschenWürdig, Leipzig  |  Prof. Sabine Broeck, Research Group Black Knowledges, Universität Bremen  |  glokal e.V., Berlin  |  Lampedusa-Bündnis Göttingen  |  Integrationsrat Göttingen  |   Imam-Jonas Dogesch, Network of Migrants Organisations in Mecklenburg­-Vorpommern  |  Fouad HASSAM  |  Peter Birke, SOFI, Göttingen  |  Barbara Cárdenas and Willi van Oyen, Left Party, Hessen  |  Action-Alliance against Deportation, Rhine-Main  |  no one is illegal, Hanau  |  Lampedusa in Hanau  |  no one is illegal, Cologne  |  NoLager Bremen  |  transact  |  Netzwerk Kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung  |  European Civic Forum  |  Peter Marhold, Helping Hands, Vienna  |  Ulrich Brand, Institutsleiter und Professor für Internationale Politik an der Universität Wien  |  Network for the Political and Social Rights, Athens  |  Augenauf Bern  |  Bleiberecht Bern  |  Sans-Papiers-Anlaufstelle Zürich SPAZ  |  Johannes Bühler, Autor des Buches “Am Fusse der Festung”, Fribourg  |  Salvatore Pittà, Journalist und Aktivist, Bern  |  Pauline Milani, Präsidentin SOSF, Lausanne  |  Myriam Schwab-Ngamije, CSP Vaud, Lausanne  |  MediNetz Bremen  |  Die Linke Bremen  |  Recherche International e.V., Köln  |  Charlotte Wiedemann, Journalistin, Berlin  |  Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft WiSe e.G.  |  Stadtkommune Alla Hopp, Bremen  |  Tobias Linnemann, Diplompädagoge, Bremen  |  Bruno Kraft, Diplompädagoge, Bremen  |  Luca Bräuer, Schüler, Bremen | Veith Weers, Bremen |  Barbara Funck, Studentin, Bremen |  Cornelius Hertz, Galerist, Bremen |  Sarah Lempp, Journalistin |  Ted Gaier, Goldene Zitronen  |  SOAS Detainee Support (SDS), London  |  Cetta Mainwaring, Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo  |  Right to Remain, London  |  kein mensch ist illegal, Hamburg  | Association pour la Défense des Emigrés Maliens (ADEM), Bamako  |  Association Retour Travail Dignité (ARTD), Bamako  | Association des Migrants Repatriés de Libye et de la Cote d’Ivoire (AMRLEC), Bamako  |  Association des Femmes et Enfants Repatriés et Migrants de la Cote d’Ivoire (AFERMACI), Bamako  |  Association des Jeunes Reoules de l’Espagne de la Commune Yanfolila (AJRECY), Yanfolila  |  Hellenic League for Human Rights, Athens  |  Solidarity Social Clinic (KIA), Thessaloniki  |  Yiorgos Tsiakalos, Professor Emeritus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  |  Spyros Marchetos, School of Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  |  Jérôme Valluy, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne  |  Gilles Reckinger, Department of History and European Ethnology, Innsbruck  |  Alexander Pollak, SOS Mitmensch, Vienna  |  Anna Fuchs, Berlin  |  www.migrazine.at – Online-Magazin von Migrantinnen für alle  |  Medinetz Freiburg  |  Die ganze Bäckerei, Leipzig  |  Sieglinde Rosenberger, Department of Political Science, Head of the research group INEX ‘The Politics of Inclusion & Exclusion’, Vienna  |  Peter Herrmann, EURISPES, Rome  |  Stefan Thimmel, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Berlin  |  Angelika Wahl, Frankfurt  |  Konstantinos Tsitselikis, Associate Professor, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki  |  Athanasios Marvakis, Associate Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  |  Institute of Race Relations, London  |  Gurminder K. Bhambra, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick  |  South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group  |  No One Is Illegal, England   |  L’Association Rencontre Méditerranéenne pour l’Immigration et le Développment (ARMID), Tanger  |  Spitou Mendy, SOC-SAT, Almería  |  Noborder, Frankfurt  |  Helga Dierichs, Munich  |  Matthias Plieninger, Hamburg  |  Ramona Lenz, Medico International, Frankfurt  |  Ivana Domazet, Refugee Council Brandenburg, Potsdam  |  Antirassistisches Netzwerk Sachsen-Anhalt  |  Arbeitskreis Antirassismus, Magdeburg  |  Anne Bathily, Brussels  |  f.lo.p.s, autonomous feminist women-lesbian group, Bremen  |  no-racism.net, Vienna  |  acompa, assistance group for refugees, Bremen  |  Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mediterranean  |  Kommune Niederkaufungen  |  Natalia Paszkiewicz, Anthropologist, London  |  Alexander Stoff, Vienna  |  Hannelore Stoff, Vienna  |  Susanne Heim, Berlin  |  Youth without Borders, Germany  |  Afghans United Association, Athens  |  Österreichische Lagergemeinschaft Ravensbrück & Freunde, Vienna  |  Nadine Kegele, Author, Vienna  |  Dr. James Brassett, University of Warwick  |  Alev Korun, Abgeordnete zum Österreichischen Nationalrat, Vorsitzende des parlamentarischen Menschenrechtsausschusses  |  Thalia Tsalouhidou, Apothekerin, Solidarische Klinik, Athens  |  ausbrechen, Paderborn  |  David Loher, Social Anthropologist, Bern  |  Harald Bauder, Ryerson Centre for Immigration & Settlement (RCIS), Toronto  |  Andrea Ypsilanti, Institut Solidarische Moderne, Member of the Hessian parliament (SPD)  |  Bremer Friedensforum  |  Analyse & Kritik, newspaper for left debate, Hamburg  |  Resf13, Réseau Éducation Sans Frontières, France  |  Dietrich Gerstner, Kirchlicher Entwicklungsdienst – Menschenrechte und Migration, Hamburg  |  Tom Rodriguez-Perez, Football Beyond Borders, London  |  Yasmine Accardo, Activist, Naples  |  Flüchtlingsinitiative Bremen  | Heinz Nigg, Visual Anthropologist and Community Artist, Zurich  |  Athanasios Papaisiou, Teacher at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki  |  Flüchtlingsrat Bremen  | SolidaritéS (mouvement anticapitaliste, féministe et écologiste),  Suisse  |  Ulla Jelpke, MdB, Innenpolitische Sprecherin der Fraktion DIE LINKE, Berlin  |  Frans Zoer, Visitors Group to migrant detention centre, Amsterdam  |  ASTU (Action citoyennes interculturelles), Strasbourg  |  FelS (Für eine linke Strömung), Berlin  |  Senol Akkilic, Integrations- und Jugendsprecher der Wiener Grünen im Rathaus  |  Kritnet Schweiz  |  Mattea Meyer, Kantonsrätin SP, Zürich  |  Salvatore die Concilio, SPAZ Vorstand und alt Gemeinderat SP, Zürich  |  Shedhalle, Zürich  |  Solidarités, Switzerland  |  Sarah Schillinger, Migrationsforscherin und Aktivistin, Basel  |  Ueli Mäder, Professor für Soziologie, Basel  |  Andrea Vogel, Ärztin, Bremen  |  Joachim Welsch, Osnabrück  |  Katerina Stavroula, journalist, Athens  |  Elias Perabo, Adopt a Revolution, Berlin  |  Dr Chris Rossdale, Royal Holloway, University of London  |  Center for Political Beauty, Berlin  |  Christiane Benner, Geschäftsführendes Vorstandsmitglied der IG Metall, Frankfurt  |  Vicki Squire, Associate Professor, University of Warwick  |  Solidaritätsnetz Sans-Papiers, Bern

     

    The Watch The Med Alarm Phone is a novel project which will be launched in October 2014 by activist networks and civil society actors in Europe and Northern Africa. It responds to the human rights violations and the unabated dying of migrants and refugees at sea, as well as the militarisation and externalisation of EU borders. 2014 is already the deadliest year ever recorded with at least 3000 people dying in their attempt to overcome Europe’s external borders. This year, the Italian navy launched the ‘Mare Nostrum’ operation, an ambivalent process that further extended Europe’s border surveillance and (potential) repression of migratory movements but that became also appropriated by about 130.000 migrants and refugees who made it to European shores. However, the Mare Nostrum operation is ending and replaced by ‘Frontex Plus’ and it seems certain that the new mission will not be as extensive as Mare Nostrum had been so that even more people will die in their attempts to cross the border.
    This alternative alarm network is the first and an urgently required step toward a Euro-Mediterranean area that is not characterised by a deadly border regime but by solidarity and the right for protection and the freedom of movement.