Meeting

Humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean: “legality and reality” in the crisis of refugees in the Mediterranean.

Jorge explains to us from the legal point of view and from the point of view of international and European law: What is a refugee person; who has the right to Territorial Asylum; what does the principle of non-refoulement mean; how does it operate Frontex in rescues in the Mediterranean Sea; how does border control influence states; is there any legal obligation to rescue someone who is in danger at sea?

Noelia. In 2015 Médecins Sans Frontières starts the rescue operation with ships in the Mediterranean with three ships coordinated with the maritime control centre in Rome. She was on the ship “Dignity” 30 miles off the Libyan coast in international waters dedicated to the rescue of ships (with 700 occupants) and boats or pateras (with 120 occupants) in danger. The people who come in the boats usually spend an average of 12 hours at sea and most of their occupants do not know how to swim. They don’t understand who the boats are rescuing them from, what countries they are from and whether they are traffickers or come to their aid. He tells us about his experience with people in rescues, what their causes are, in what physical and psychological conditions they arrive and what is demanded from MSF.

June 17, 2017