Escape across the Mediterranean: Serious allegations! Did sea rescuers work with smugglers?

news.de Escape across the Mediterranean: Serious allegations! Did sea rescuers work with smugglers? Article from gom/loc/news.de • 3 hours. Migrants often board crowded smugglers' rubber boats to cross the Mediterranean. When trying to cross the Mediterranean and flee towards Europe, many people lose their lives. Also because they get involved with smugglers who put them in danger on overcrowded inflatable boats. Refugee helpers actually want to save people from exactly such situations. But did NGOs even work with human traffickers? Accusations against refugee helpers: Cooperation between sea rescuers and smugglers? “Focus online” is currently reporting on these serious allegations, citing Italian investigations and our own research. According to this, smugglers are said to have, among other things, brought refugees from the North African coast to ships belonging to international aid organizations, which then drove them on to Italy. “Focus online” has a 650-page report from the investigative authorities with incriminating material. 21 defendants have already been charged in Italy with “aiding and abetting the illegal entry of migrants”. The organizations concerned (for example “Jugend Rettet”, “Save the Children”, “Doctors Without Borders”) reject the allegations, which date back six to seven years, and speak, among other things, of an attempt to criminalize refugee rescuers in the Mediterranean. NGOs deny cooperation with human traffickers However, lawyers from the Berlin NGO “Jugend Rettet” failed in 2023 with objections to the criminal case. Investigators also found that there were often no cases of shipwreck. Only this would have allowed the organizations to bring people to a safe haven in Italy. The helpers are also said to have noticed how the smugglers used violence against the migrants and also did not report criminals to the responsible authorities. It is the presumption of innocence.