“What is happening in the Mediterranean is not a drama or a tragedy. It is a perfectly avoidable crime.”
This October you were in the Central Mediterranean on board Open Arms' Astral. What is the situation like there?
Very difficult. This 2016 is proving very deadly. The International Organization for Migration estimates that on this route 4,377 people have died so far this year and about 6,000 across the Mediterranean. The crossing from the Libyan coast is extremely dangerous: the boats are extremely precarious, generally inflatables but there are also huge, very unstable wooden barges, they are overloaded, people don't wear life jackets, and they carry no water or food. They have just enough gasoline to reach the rescue zone, that is, 12 miles from the coast, where Libya's territorial waters end and where the various humanitarian aid organizations in the area operate, which are, by the way, overwhelmed. During the month of October, three times as many people were rescued as in October 2015. It should also be remembered that the EU has not launched any rescue operation. The two military operations in the area, Triton and Sophia, are aimed at combating human trafficking mafias and controlling borders; they are not rescue operations, although warships deployed in the area do intervene in cases of distress. All these deaths are preventable and are the result of the European Union's absurd policies, which erect invisible walls in the middle of the sea. This is how the EU manages this exodus: by letting people die. That is why what is happening in the Mediterranean is not a drama, nor a tragedy. It is a perfectly avoidable crime.
What is the situation of the people?
They mainly come from African countries such as Eritrea, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and the Central African Republic. They are people who have suffered immensely on their journey to Libya, and once there, they are subjected to continuous abuse and mistreatment of all kinds. They are exploited for labor before they can board, they are beaten, and the women are systematically raped. The testimonies of the people who arrive are horrifying.
Is it a very different situation from the Greek islands, like Lesbos, where you have also been?
The Aegean crossing is less dangerous because it's shorter. For example, from northern Lesbos to Turkey there are only ten kilometers. There have been many shipwrecks there and people have died, but in Libya we're talking about a water desert, a crossing of almost 300 miles. In 2015 alone, 850,000 people crossed the Aegean. It's insane. The worst part is that once they reach Europe, the situation that awaits them is deplorable. Right now there are about 60,000 people trapped in makeshift camps controlled by the army in Greece. The conditions they live in are a flagrant violation of human rights: in many of these facilities there are no schools, no medical services, and legal information for people who want to apply for asylum is scarce or nonexistent. They are being killed by uncertainty, and we must remember that we are talking about people who have had to leave everything behind to survive. They are fleeing war, not emigrating to improve their lives, but to save them. They accumulate traumas that are greatly exacerbated by these degrading and inhuman conditions to which they are subjected.
On the islands, what is the situation?
Following the signing of the shameful and ignominious agreement between the European Union and Turkey, the Aegean route has been significantly contained. People are still arriving from Turkey, but nowhere near as many as last year, when 8,000 people could disembark on Lesbos in a single day. Now, there are around 16,000 people detained in the centers on the Greek islands: they cannot continue to the mainland and some have already been deported back to Turkey. The situation there is much harsher even than in the camps in Athens or Thessaloniki.
You just published a book about Lesbos.
Yes, it's called “Lesbos, Open Heart” and the copyright is assigned to Open Arms. Basically, it's an experiential book where I explain in the first person everything I saw and lived on the island of Lesbos last year while we were filming the documentary “To Kyma. Aegean Sea Rescue,” which highlighted the situation on the island and the crucial work of volunteers in supporting all the people arriving there. The volunteers have done much more than the 28 states of the European Union during this time, and the book is a reflection of this truth.