transform! Webinar

Monday, 18.05.
17:30 — 19:30 (CET)

via Zoom

Join the webinar, organised by transform! europe in collaboration with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung North Africa Office, on the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for the renunciation of the EU’s responsibility towards migrants on boats in distress in the Mediterranean.

In the central Mediterranean, a dangerous rescue gap is actively being created. One of the greatest challenges to tackle during the Covid-19 crisis is the systematic withdrawal of European authorities from this area. The results of European countries no longer respecting their legal search-and-rescue obligations within European Search and Rescue (SAR) zones include pushing boats back to North Africa, where especially in Libya migrants are met with conditions previously described by international organisations such as Human Rights Watch and the UNHCR as violations of human rights.

In this Webinar, together with respresentatives from the emergency hotline Alarmphone, North African human-rights activists and civic sea rescue activists, we will discuss the the abrogation of the EU responsibility in this area. We will ask about the difficulties search-and-rescue missions are now facing in the Mediterranean, what migrants pushed back to North African shores have to contend with, and what happens to the bodies of those who have lost their lives in the highly risky attempt to cross the Mediterranean.

speakers: tba

Moderation: Ines Mahmoud (RLS North Africa), Katerina Anastasiou (transform! europe)