Proem-Aid ('Professional Emergency Aid') [1] is a Spanish NGO which operates in the Mediterranean Sea with the aims of aiding and rescuing those in distress on the water. It was formed by a group of emergency service workers who volunteered their time and expertise, and initially operated off Lesbos beginning in December 2015 [2] [3] [4] before also starting an operation in the central Mediterranean in September 2017.
Proem-Aid have also been active in rehabilitation of traumatised refugees on the Canary Islands. [5]
Since 2016 the organisation has collaborated with the Sea-Watch organisation to run the LifeLine project. [6]
Proem-Aid intend to use their ship Life (which was renamed from Seefuchs on being donated to PROEM in 2018) for training volunteers and to raise awareness of the problems faced by refugees. [7] [8] [9] In November 2020 Proem-Aid sold the ship Life. [10]
In 2021 Proem-Aid acquired the ship Alan Kurdi from the humanitarian organization Sea-Eye. [6] [9] As of December 2020, the Alan Kurdi had been non-operational and moored in the port of Olbia, and subject to ongoing legal proceedings, [11] but in May 2021, the vessel was released from detention in Olbia and was reported to be headed for Burriana for scheduled maintenance. [12] In July 2021, the Italian humanitarian NGO, 'RESQ - People Saving People' announced that they had acquired and were preparing to start operating the Alan Kurdi, now renamed RESQ PEOPLE . [13]
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.
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.
Simon Lewis is an Australian lifeguard and volunteer surf lifesaver. Once the former St Kilda Lifesaving Club Captain, he is the only Australian lifeguard to have worked both major migration routes in Europe. He first became part of a team of six on lesvos Greece with International Surf Lifesaving Association (ISLA). Since joining the mission with ISLA, Lewis has completed seven humanitarian rescue missions with six NGOs saving the lives of over 1,900 African and Syrian refugees as they attempted to cross the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean Sea to Greece and Italy. As well as being the first Australian to become the head of mission on the central migration route for the German NGO Mission Lifeline, Lewis participated in the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) yearly telethon which raised over $800,000 for the organisation to continue to help those in dire need.
Mediterranea Saving Humans APS is an Italian "civil society platform" that carries out rescue operations in the Mediterranean sea. 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 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.
Sea-Eye is a German non-governmental organization headquartered in Regensburg. It participates in the rescue of migrants in distress in the Mediterranean, in particular by having chartered the ships Sea-Eye and Seefuchs/ Sea Fox until August 2017, then the Alan Kurdi and since August 2020 the Sea-Eye 4. In June 2021, Sea-Eye received honorary citizenship from the mayor of Palermo.
Mission Lifeline is an association from Dresden, founded in 2016, whose purpose is to rescue people at sea in the Mediterranean. The rescue ship Lifeline was initially used for this, and since the end of August 2019 the Mission Eleonore has been used. From October 2021, Mission Lifeline have operated the ship Rise Above.
Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario (SMH) is a Non-governmental organization (NGO) that is governed by the principles of "volunteering, solidarity, humanity, universality, equality, impartiality and dignity" founded in Zarautz (Gipuzkoa) in 2015.
Refugee Rescue is a charitable Non-Governmental Organisation based in Northern Ireland which operates the rescue vessel Mo Chara from the North Shore of Lesvos, Greece, covering parts of the Aegean Sea. It also fulfills a coastguard role along that coast.
borderline-europe - human rights without borders e. V. is a non-governmental organisation which, through independent investigations and public relations work, advocates the protection of human rights, especially at the EU's external borders. It is based in Berlin and has two branches, on the islands of Sicily and Lesbos. The organisation was founded in 2007 by Judith Gleitze, Harald Glöde, Stefan Schmidt and Elias Bierdel. In 2012 borderline-europe was awarded the Aachen Peace Prize. Its founding was at least partly a response to the 2004 case of the German rescue ship ‘Cap Anamur’ in which, after the rescue of 37 men in distress at sea, the ship's captain, Stefan Schmidt, and the organisation's chairman, Elias Bierdel were arrested and held in Italy before being acquitted, 5 years later, of aiding and abetting irregular entry.
Alan Kurdi, named after the drowned Syrian child of Kurdish origin, Alan Kurdi, is a ship which has been used since 2018 by the humanitarian organization Sea-Eye - under the German flag - and latterly the Italian humanitarian NGO, 'ResQ - People Saving People' for the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Before this, she was an oceanographic vessel operated by the Land of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, named Professor Albrecht Penck.
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 ship Life is a former fishing cutter, which was used in the Mediterranean from 2017 to 2018 under the name Seefuchs for the Sea-Eye association from Regensburg as a rescue ship between Malta and Libya. In 2019 the ship was given away to the Spanish organisation Proem-Aid. In 2021, the ship was intercepted in international waters with a large drug load after being bought by drug dealers, in a joint investigation by the Guardia Civil and the Servicio de Vigilancia Aduanera.
Sea Eye 4 is an offshore supply ship that is used as a sea rescue ship. The Sea-Eye organisation moved the ship to the Mediterranean Sea in 2021 to rescue refugees.
Humanitarian Pilots Initiative (HPI) is an NGO with charitable aims, with registered headquarters in Rehetobel, Switzerland. Its stated aim is to provide a focus for 'committed pilots and supporters who use their abilities for humanitarian purposes – regardless of politics, religion, ethnicity or nationality'.
Joint Operation Themis is the successor to Operation Triton, and began in 2018. This was after Operation Triton in turn had followed Operation Mare Nostrum in 2014. All of these operations have been run by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency of the European Union, also known as Frontex.
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.
ResQ-People Saving People is an Italian NGO with the aim of improving the lot of refugees and migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. It was formed in Milan and from an early stage aspired to support a rescue ship sailing off the Italian coast.
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.