- Title: Migrant rescue group SOS Mediterranee possible contender for Nobel Peace Prize
- Date: 26th September 2019
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FILE - JULY 22, 2019) (REUTERS) SIGN WITH PHOTO OF REFUGEE READING (English) "#TogetherForRescue" REPRESENTATIVES OF SOS MEDITERRANEE AND MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE TO UNVEIL NEW SHIP, OCEAN VIKING (SOUNDBITE) (French) INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT OF MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERS, DR. JOANNE LIU, SAYING: "Today, we return to the sea because people are dying. We return to the sea because above all, it is a humanitarian act meant to save lives. We return to the sea while the fighting rages on in Tripoli and the deaths of migrants and refugees in Libya are piling up. The situation does not cease to worsen, and European governments are founded on a murderous logic which essentially consists of two things: One, that the problem will go away if you make the rescuers go away; Two: That the solution envisaged is either by drowning or by forcibly sending back the migrants and refugees to Libya." JOURNALISTS AT SOS MEDITERANNEE / MEDECINS NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) DIRECTOR-GENERAL AND CO-FOUNDER OF SOS MEDITERRANNEE, SOPHIE BEAU, SAYING: "Sea operations are very expensive. Operations with the Aquarius was costing 11,000 euros ($12,338) per day. And today, with this new means that which we have just presented, the Ocean Viking, our sea operations cost 14,000 euros ($15,703) per day, and so today, we launch a new appeal to European citizens for action, to help us finance this mission." BERLIN, GERMANY (FILE - AUGUST 23, 2019) (REUTERS) MEDIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERS SEARCH AND RESCUE CO-ORDINATOR, MAX DAVIS, SAYING: (VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE FROM MARSEILLE, FRANCE): "Doing four rescues in four days is no joke. This is an immense amount of people and very stressful and then to be stuck onboard with no end or hope in sight is again just adding to that stress and tension." VARIOUS OF CHARITY MEMBERS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERS SEARCH AND RESCUE CO-ORDINATOR, MAX DAVIS, SAYING: (VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE FROM MARSEILLE): "The fact that we need to be having this kind of discussions (about taking in migrants from rescue ships) is disgusting and also could result in death." DAVIS SEEN ON VIDEO SCREEN DURING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERS SEARCH AND RESCUE CO-ORDINATOR, MAX DAVIS, SAYING: (VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE FROM MARSEILLE): "Most people on that ship had been in arbitrary detention, have been tortured, have been raped if they are female, that is just the standard of the demographics we get." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEDICINS SANS FRONTIERS MEDICAL LEADER, SAM TURNER, SAYING: (VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE FROM TRIPOLI, LIBYA) "We have spoken to people who have been trapped on the frontlines of the fighting in Libya, we have spoken to people who have lived through the air strike on the Tajoura detention centre, where approximately 60 people were killed in early July and further 70 were injured. We have also spoken to people and treated injuries of those who have experienced horrors during their time in Libya. At the hands of traffickers and criminals they have been exploited, they have been subjected to what we can only describe as torture: beatings, sexual violence and all sorts of horrific things that are really unimaginable." NEWS CONFERENCE ONGOING WITH TURNER SEEN ON VIDEO SCREEN
- Embargoed: 10th October 2019 08:58
- Keywords: SOS Mediterranee the Aquarius German Chancellor Angela Merkel Nobel Peace Prize MSF
- Location: VALENCIA, SPAIN / AT SEA / VALLETTA AND SENGLEA, MALTA / SZCZECIN, POLAND / PARIS AND MARSEILLE, FRANCE / BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: VALENCIA, SPAIN / AT SEA / VALLETTA AND SENGLEA, MALTA / SZCZECIN, POLAND / PARIS AND MARSEILLE, FRANCE / BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Various
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA003AYG80G7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: SOS Mediterranee, an Italian-French-German humanitarian organisation which has played a major role in the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean, is a potential contender for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019.
Founded in May 2015 in response to the lack of rescue capacities in the region, SOS Mediterranee's mission statement is that "no one should drown in the Mediterranean - no matter their origin, ethnicity or reasons for flight."
Since 2016, the Aquarius - the rescue vessel run by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) - has been operating continuously and forms part of the search and rescue efforts in the central Mediterranean.
The non-profit association is financed exclusively through donations, while its partner MSF contributes to the monthly costs for the Aquarius and staffs the medical team on board.
Disputes over immigration have divided the European Union, with splits between and within governments about who should take responsibility for migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
(Production: Paul Warren, Eleanor Whalley) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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