The hunt of the Iuventa

From the January 20th 2018 issue of the German magazine Der Spiegel, the article Jagd auf Iuventa (The hunt of the Iuventa) reports on NGOs which rescue immigrants who try to reach Europe through the Mediterranean.

“One can perhaps understand what we are doing here after watching first hand how someone drowns,” says a volunteer.

The crux of the article is that some volunteers have been accused of directly cooperating with smugglers, which may have brought the refugees directly to NGO ships. The volunteers deny direct cooperation.

However, in their desire to help, they have also optimized for other things, namely:

The Libyan smugglers have come to use cheaper inflatable boats, which often run out of air after several miles, trusting they will be rescued in a timely manner. And help does indeed often come [...]

The volunteers are aware of the dilemma. Of course the smugglers are going to abuse their readiness to help, says Lea Reisner; of course they are part of a system in which criminals take part. She would prefer that the problem be solved in some other way, and to be portrayed as a crazy leftist [linke Spinner] with a good heart who collaborates with smugglers makes her furious.

“We didn’t create this situation in which thousands must drown in the Mediterranean,” says Constantine Nestler, the doctor. “We came after the first died.” He asks himself what the alternative would be: “to let tens of thousands die so that the message reaches Africa and nobody dares come? The calculus of the authorities is cynical.