Spanish charities including Proactiva Open Arms received the green light to set sail from the port of Barcelona on Wednesday. Instead of returning to the central Mediterranean to save migrants, the NGOs will deliver aid supplies to migrants on the Greek islands.
More than 60 migrants stranded off the coast of Malta on the Sea-Eye NGO vessel disembarked in the capital Valetta on Saturday. Meanwhile, the crew was blocked from landing and is headed towards Spain.
The Maltese government announced on Saturday April 13 that more than 60 migrants on board the German run rescue ship, the Alan Kurdi would be shared between four countries, Germany, France, Portugal and Luxembourg.
The French interior minister has said that non-government organizations play an essential role in providing aid to migrants. In a video posted on social media, he said he had not been questioning the sincerity of NGOs in commenting that some were proven to have links with traffickers.
The Sea-Eye rescue ship Alan Kurdi is anchored off the coast of Malta with over 60 refugees on board. The vessel has been forbidden to dock. Sea-Eye spokesperson Carlotta Weibl spoke with DW about the situation.
Open Arms founder Oscar Camps told ANSA in an interview that saving lives at sea is not about legality but rather "an obligation." He defended the actions of the ship Alan Kurdi run by the German NGO Sea Eye which Italy has so far blocked from disembarking at the island of Lampedusa.
Supplies on board the migrant rescue ship 'Alan Kurdi' are running low, the non-government organization Sea Eye says. Six days after the rescue of 64 migrants off the Libyan coast, food and drinking water has nearly run out. Malta and Italy continue to refuse the ship permission to dock.
A humanitarian ship carrying 64 rescued migrants aboard remains at sea on Friday, just outside Italian territorial waters, as the governments of Italy and Malta refuse to grant safe harbor. Meanwhile, the German run Sea-Watch organization has asked its countries diplomats to try and find a safe port for them within the EU via diplomatic channels.
Civil society organizations have appealed, in an open letter to the German chancellor Angela Merkel, for an emergency plan to rescue migrants from the Mediterranean. The letter also says German cities and regions should be allowed to offer 'safe havens' to refugees.
The Italian NGO Mani Tese (Outstretched Hands) published a report in which it said NGO search-and-rescue activity in the Mediterranean has allowed the Italian government to save nearly one billion euros.
Naval ships will no longer be part of the European Union's anti-smuggling Operation Sophia from next month, EU sources said. Italy had threatened to halt the mission unless rescued migrants were taken to other countries.
Moroccan authorities have dropped a case against Spanish journalist and human rights defender Helena Maleno Garzon. Maleno works for the NGO Walking Borders which alerts Spanish and Moroccan rescue authorities to migrant boats in distress at sea.