It is over for the Aquarius

It is now official. After being detained for several months at the port of Marseille, waiting for a flag, the Aquarius will not resume its humanitarian operations. SOS Méditerranée and Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) announced on 6 December that they were “ending the search and rescue operations” of the ship that had helped to save nearly 30,000 migrants in the Mediterranean.

Both organisations said the decision is a consequence of many political pressures. They informed that they are exploring other options in order to resume their rescue mission. “We refuse to stay stuck at the dock while people continue to die at sea,” said Karline Kleijer in a statement from MSF. “As long as people are suffering in Libya or are in distress at sea, MSF will look for ways to rescue them with medical and humanitarian aid.”

“Saving lives at sea is and will remain our mission and today more than ever we need the support of all citizens who still believe in our values ​​of humanity at sea and wish to contribute to our efforts to find a new ship and a new flag,” added Sophie Beau from SOS Méditerranée.

After Gibraltar and Panama, it was Switzerland’s turn to deny a flag to the Aquarius in early December.

** Updated on 9/12/18 **

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Aquarius still stuck in Marseille, chronology of the facts

After rescuing more than 29,000 migrants in the Mediterranean between February 2016 and August 2018, the Aquarius remains blocked at the port of Marseille, for lack of a flag. Chartered by SOS Méditerranée in partnership with Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the humanitarian boat had its pavilions revoked in the last few months, first by Gibraltar and then by Panama.

On 20 November, the Italian court ordered the boat’s seizure invoking the illegal transport of toxic waste. “This grotesque measure is implemented for the sole purpose of preventing medical and humanitarian actions to save lives at sea by further criminalising them,” said MSF in a statement.

It all started last July with Gibraltar where the Aquarius had been registered as a research vessel. The British territory demanded the suspension of the rescue activities for which the Aquarius had not been registered. The decision was justified by the lack of space in Italian ports for lifeboats while at the same time Matteo Salvini, the Italian Minister of the Interior, decided to deny access to humanitarian ships.

Then Panama, where the Aquarius had found a temporary flag, also decided to revoke the pavilion for “non-compliance” with “international legal procedures,” according to AFP. In fact, the Central American state had reportedly been under pressure from the Italian authorities.

“This dismissal is the result of the blatant economic and political pressure exerted by the Italian government. It condemns hundreds of men, women and children on the run to the marine graveyard that is now the Mediterranean,” announced then SOS Méditerranée and MSF.

To protest against this decision and the attack carried out by far-right militants on the premises of SOS Méditerranée in Marseille, demonstrations of support took place everywhere in Europe on 6 October. Approximately 40,000 people mobilised in an “orange civic wave,” the colour of the lifejackets worn at sea by refugees.

The humanitarian organisation then launched a petition asking Europe to grant a flag to the Aquarius to allow it to resume rescues at sea. So far, it has collected more than 270,000 signatures.

Since then, the boat has obtained a flag from Liberia on the one condition that it doesn’t carry out rescues. “We are ready to have any suitable boat, any flag, not necessarily European. What we want is to go back to the sea to save the people who are fleeing the hell of Libya – of course, respecting all the rules. We will not give up,” said Francis Vallat, president of SOS Méditerranée, in an interview to Midi Libre.

On 27 November, SOS Méditerranée launched a new fundraising campaign “around the universal values ​​of humanity and solidarity in order to support and sustain its action.” In the meantime, Switzerland is weighing the possibility of hoisting its flag on the Aquarius. The decision of the Federal Council is expected at the end of November.

TMP, 29/11/2018