Where is our humanity?

I’ve been busy with a variety of projects and writing for other outlets, but the recent handling of people in danger at sea (No, not that.) compelled me to pull this together. I hope it makes you angry.

Last week, a boat filled with refugees sank in Greek waters. Questions abound about the circumstances surrounding the wreck. An organization that amplifies SOS calls, Alarm Phone, claims the Greek authorities were notified about the ship at least twelve hours before it sank. They also reported that survivors of the shipwreck claim that an attempt to tow their boat by the Greek Coast Guard caused it to capsize.

The Greek Coast Guard maintains that they offered to help, but that the people piloting the ship rebuffed those offers, and they deny having attempted to tow the boat. They further claim that trying to tow the overcrowded boat was too perilous an endeavour to undertake. As their spokesperson put it, “You will have a disturbance, and the people will surge — which, unfortunately, is what happened in the end.” (Folks, a Coast Guard that thinks saving people from danger on the sea is too perilous is about as useful as a carpenter with a fear of hammers.)

Markella Io Papadouli, a lawyer who specializes in maritime law and human rights, responded to the Coast Guard’s claims by saying, “Regardless of what the smugglers wanted, you have an obligation to rescue.” And Dr Nota Markard, a professor of international public law and international human rights, added, “They were on the scene, they were in their own search and rescue zone, they failed to rescue and they failed to coordinate a rescue. And then they actively put the lives of the people on the boat at risk.”

After speaking with survivors of the shipwreck, Kriton Arsenis, a member of Greece’s Parliament, accused his country’s Coast Guard of trying to move the boat into Italian waters, and multiple reports from third parties conflict with the Coast Guard’s version of the day’s events.

Tuesday was World Refugee Day, a day to “celebrate the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution.” You could be excused for missing the event given the wall-to-wall coverage of the submarine that imploded. While the status of that ship was unknown, at least 10 ships came to their aid.

How many people could ten boats have saved when the refugee ship sank?

In a related issue, Pia Klemp, a ship captain whose crews have saved over 1,000 drowning migrants, is at risk of spending two decades in jail for doing so.

Klemp claims her rescue work is legal thanks to Article 98 of the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea (shown below), which states, “every state shall require the master of a ship… to render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost” and “proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in distress.” I would add that it seems to not only be legal to do so, but also that it seems to be a requirement.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration shared a post on Twitter that seemed to support Captain Klemp’s position. It stated, “The duty to rescue, without delay, people in distress is a fundamental rule of international maritime law. Regardless of the nationality, status and intentions of those on board.”

The IOM’s spokesperson for the region, Flavio Di Giacomo, added, “All the boats on which migrants travel are to be considered unfit for navigation and therefore in danger ("boats in distress") and must be rescued immediately, without delay. This even when they appear to have no problems, because in a few minutes they can sink.”

To recap, the Greek Coast Guard’s mandate is apparently to literally guard the coast against refugees, and a captain who has been saving refugees is being offered a reward of a year in jail for every fifty people her crew has saved.

Anyone who thinks Captain Klemp deserves anything but appreciation for her efforts ought to spend time with a mirror. More broadly, I'm with Jes Cerdeña.

It’s been nearly eight years since photos of a drowned Syrian child shocked the world. Humanity should have come together to demand change at that moment. So far, we’ve failed the test.