00:00We are flying early in the morning, so one important goal of our operation is the active search for people
00:08in distress.
00:10The second goal of our operation would be to coordinate, once we spotted people in distress, to coordinate the search
00:18and rescue cases,
00:19both with the competent authorities in Italy or Malta, and of course also with all the vessels which are in
00:26the vicinity, which could render assistance.
00:29So, for example, merchant vessels, but also different NGO ships or military and navy.
00:38With the absence of search and rescue and also with the increased capacity building of the so-called Libyan Coast
00:46Guard,
00:47the third important pillar of our operation is the monitoring of human rights violations,
00:54which unfortunately are more and more common and something we have to witness on a daily basis.
01:01In the Maltese search and rescue region, we really have the problem that search and rescue for migrants, for refugees
01:11is non-existent.
01:14Very often, also on the route, which is starting in Benghazi or Tobruk, so the east of Libya,
01:22we see that for days people are drifting adrift on small boats in the Maltese search and rescue area,
01:31and there's no coordination by RCC Malta, RCC Malta is demanding merchant vessels to not rescue people in distress
01:41or even to hand out fuel to boats in distress so that they can make it to Italy.
01:50And, of course, in the Libyan search and rescue zone, we have the big problem that usually we do not
01:58have any rescues taking place there,
02:00but what we say interceptions, so people are abducted at high seas and illegally brought back to Libya.
02:09and all this coordination and all this kind of activities were outsourced in the last years from Italy and Europe
02:18to Libyan authorities.
02:20While, for example, back in 2016 or back in 2017, we had a very functioning search and rescue chain.
02:31We had MRCC Rome coordinating all search and rescue cases with NGOs, with Mare Nostrum before in the years,
02:43but then also Operation Sophia or Guardia Costiera was also actually in that area.
02:49This completely changed. In 2018, 2019, all ships were withdrawn from this area.
02:58And, yeah, in the moment, we see that if we would inform the Italian authorities,
03:05they would just forward the information to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard
03:10in order to intercept the people and push them back to Libya.
03:15The shooting is not as good.
03:17Yeah.
03:18Yeah.
03:20So, the next question,
03:22are you going to get back into here?
03:25Do you have to get back into here?
03:27Yeah.
03:40What we unfortunately regularly have to witness, apart from the fact that European naval forces or also merchant vessels would
03:53not rescue,
03:53so they would actively go away from people in distress,
03:58is that we have to witness that the so-called Libyan Coast Guard repeatedly uses a lot of violence to
04:07intercept people.
04:09Because, of course, people would try to escape the so-called Libyan Coast Guard,
04:13because they know what would happen if they get intercepted and brought back into arbitrary detention,
04:20facing torture in Libya.
04:21And this kind of things is, of course, an unacceptable situation and making the whole situation even worse and more
04:28dangerous,
04:29instead of what a Coast Guard should usually do, like, as the name says, guarding people to a safe place,
04:37right?
04:37So, it's a good thing, right?
04:38I think that's the right thing.
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