 Open Arms in Pozzallo, Italy | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Spain | |
| Name | Open Arms |
| General characteristics | |
| Length | 36.9 m [1] |
| Beam | 9.5 m [1] |
Open Arms is a Mediterranean rescue vessel operated by the Proactiva Open Arms NGO. Before 2018, it was named Ibaizabal Tres. [1] [2]
The vessel is 37 meters (121 feet) long and its work can be followed online. [3]
In November 2018, a joint campaign was launched by Proactive Open Arms, SOS Méditerranée and Sea-Watch, which used Open Arms, Mare Jonio and Sea-Watch 3 , along with the Moonbird aircraft, to continue with the rescue of refugees in the Mediterranean. This followed after a few weeks during which the states had prevented them from acting in various ways. [4]
In August 2019, while the boat was off Lampedusa and prevented from entering port for a period that eventually extended to 19 days, the actor Richard Gere arranged delivery of supplies and went aboard to distribute them to the refugees. [5]
During the course of 2019, the vessel rescued a total of 324 people from the sea.[ citation needed ]
In November 2020, Open Arms rescued 250 people in one week. [6]
On 5 October 2023, the ship was confiscated by Italian Authorities, after rescuing 176 people from three vessels in distress on 30 September 2023, in violation of rules demanding immediate return to port after each individual rescue. [7]
The ship began delivering food to the Gaza Strip in March 2024 via a maritime corridor negotiated by the Cypriot government. [8] [9] The loaded barge contained at once around 200 tons of food. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
In 2021, Istat estimated that 5,171,894 foreign citizens lived in Italy, representing about 8.7% of the total population. These figures include naturalized foreign-born residents as well as illegal immigrants, the so-called clandestini, whose numbers, difficult to determine, are thought to be at least 670,000.
The North Sea trawler MS Golfo Azzurro was launched in 1987 as the Maarten Cornelis, and was the first trawler in the Netherlands equipped with the EUR SumWing. From 2016-2017 it was chartered by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms and was used for search and rescue operations near Libyan waters.
The Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) is an international humanitarian non-governmental organization based in Malta that provides aid and assistance to vulnerable communities worldwide. MOAS main focus is responding quickly and efficiently to emerging crises and make a difference in people's lives.
Proactiva Open Arms (POA) is a Spanish NGO devoted to search and rescue (SAR) at sea. Set up in October 2015, it carried out its first rescue action that same month from its base on the Greek island of Lesbos. As well as maintaining a permanent base on Lesbos, the NGO carries out its rescue operations from three ships, a sailing yacht Astral, the Golfo Azzurro and Open Arms.
The MV Aquarius, formerly Aquarius Dignitus and Aquarius 2, is a 1977-built dual-flagged search and rescue vessel, which has been used to rescue refugees and migrants stranded in the Mediterranean Sea since 2016. It has been chartered and operated since February 2016 by the NGOs SOS Méditerranée and Médecins Sans Frontières as a rescue vessel for migrants and refugees making the Mediterranean crossing in makeshift craft from Libya to Italy as part of the European migrant crisis.
SOS Méditerranée is a European, maritime-humanitarian organisation for the rescue of life at sea, currently operating in the Mediterranean sea in international waters north of Libya. The organization chartered the Aquarius and more recently the Ocean Viking in order to rescue people fleeing by sea from Libya and who risk drowning. The group was founded in June 2015 by German former captain Klaus Vogel and Frenchwoman Sophie Beau after the Italian navy ended the rescue Operation Mare Nostrum in 2014. Its headquarters are in Marseille (France), Milan (Italy), Frankfurt (Germany), Geneva (Switzerland).
Jugend Rettet is a non-governmental organization (NGO) from Berlin. Its goal is to save drowning persons at the Mediterranean Sea. Operations are conducted with the Iuventa, a ship that sails under Dutch flag. This ship was seized in August 2017 after suspicion of cooperation with migrant smugglers.
World Central Kitchen (WCK) is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization that provides food relief. It was founded in 2010 by Spanish American chef and restaurateur José Andrés following the earthquake in Haiti, and has subsequently responded to Hurricane Harvey, the 2018 lower Puna eruption, 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, and the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis.
Sea-Watch is a German non-governmental organisation that operates in the Mediterranean Sea, notably by commissioning ships to rescue migrants.
Mediterranea Saving Humans APS is a "civil society platform" making connections between existing networks and individuals and a "non governmental project". Though it is similar to the many NGOs operating in the Mediterranean it is not actually an NGO, it brings together heterogeneous organizations and individuals, secular and religious, social and cultural, unions and political, who have decided to take a stand against the deaths and the human rights violations committed daily in the Mediterranean Sea. It was founded in 2018 to keep watch of the situation in the Mediterranean sea and to save lives in difficulty after the majority of other NGOs were not able to act due the legal obstacles created by the Italian authorities. The group coordinates the search and rescue operations of the ships Mare Jonio and Alex which sail under the Italian flag. The project also has the support of the German association Sea-Watch and the Spanish Proactiva Open Arms. It has carried out several search and rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean Sea with the ship Mare Jonio. Recognition of the work of Mediterranea has come from Pope Francis.
Klaus (Anselm) Vogel is a German historian and merchant sea captain who has been the founding chairman of the German sea rescue organization SOS Méditerranée since 2015.
RESQSHIP is a German charity based in Hamburg, with further branches in Freiburg, Mainz and Augsburg, founded in 2017.
VOS Prudence is a ship originally built as an offshore supply vessel for the shipping company Vroon Offshore Services.
The Aita Mari is a ship of the Maydayterraneo(sic) maritime rescue project, launched by Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario in 2017, in view of the European migrant crisis in the Central Mediterranean. SMH, a non-governmental organization, refurbished the Stella Maris Beria to rescue people from the waters of the Mediterranean.
The Ocean Viking is a former Platform supply vessel used as a humanitarian ship chartered from July 2019 by the SOS Méditerranée association.
The Humanity 1 is a German Search and Rescue Ship. The former German research ship is owned by SOS Humanity, having previously been owned by Sea-Watch e. V., who use the ship for SAR operations of refugees in distress on the Mediterranean Sea. Previously, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) operated the ship under the name of Poseidon, after the Greek god of the sea, with the State of Schleswig-Holstein as the owner. In January 2020 the ship was auctioned and bought by Sea-Watch e. V. and renamed Sea-Watch 4 on 20 February 2020; the ship was further re-named, to Humanity 1, in August 2022.
SAROBMED, the Search and Rescue Observatory for the Mediterranean, was a consortium of researchers, civil society groups, and other organisations with interests in the field of cross-border maritime migration. The focus was in particular on providing a monitoring system for refugee travel in the Mediterranean Sea.
The criminalization of sea rescue in the Mediterranean refers to the increase in policing of individuals and search and rescue (SAR) NGOs aiding migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. It further encompasses the increase in de-legitimisation attempts of SAR NGOs by governments, high-profile politicians and officials.
The Gaza floating pier was a floating dock facility created by the U.S. military after being proposed immediately before U.S. President Biden's 2024 State of the Union Address on March 7, 2024. It was in use between May and July 2024.
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