NEW YORK/CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN, SEPTEMBER 23, 2018—Facing blatant economic and political pressure by the government of Italy, the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA) has been forced to revoke the registration of the search and rescue ship Aquarius, run by SOS MEDITERRANEE and the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). This decision condemns hundreds of men, women, and children to death, and deals a major blow to the lifesaving humanitarian mission of the Aquarius, the only remaining non-governmental search and rescue vessel in the Central Mediterranean. Both organizations demand that European governments allow the Aquarius to continue its mission, by affirming to the Panamanian authorities that threats made by the Italian government are unfounded, or by immediately issuing a new flag under which the vessel can sail.
On Saturday, September 22, the Aquarius team received an official communication from Panamanian authorities stating that Italian authorities urged the PMA to take “immediate action” against the Aquarius, despite the fact that vessel meets all maritime standards and is in full compliance with rigorous technical specifications required for ships to fly the Panama flag. The PMA communication said: “unfortunately, it is necessary that [the Aquarius] be excluded from our registry, because it implies a political problem against the Panamanian government and the Panamanian fleet that arrive to European port.”
“European leaders appear to have no qualms implementing increasingly abusive and vicious tactics that serve their own political interests at the expense of human lives,” said Karline Kleijer, MSF’s head of emergencies. “For the past two years, European leaders have claimed that people should not die at sea, but at the same time they have pursued dangerous and ill-informed policies that have brought the humanitarian crisis in the Central Mediterranean and in Libya to new lows. This tragedy has to end, but that can only happen if European Union governments allow the Aquarius and other search and rescue vessels to continue providing lifesaving assistance and bearing witness where it is so desperately needed.”
SOS MEDITERRANEE and MSF strongly denounce the actions as further proof of the extent to which the Italian government is willing to go to, knowing that the only consequence is that people will continue to die at sea and that no witnesses will be present to count the dead.
