The Alarm-Phone-Initiative (Also known as: Watch The Med Alarm Phone Project) is a project operated since 8 October 2014 by volunteers from
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
,
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
and
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...
, which is committed to the sea rescue of refugees.Christian Jakob Hotline für Flüchtlinge in Seenot: Druck für mehr Verantwortung (''tr. "Hotline for refugees in distress: pressure for more responsibility"'') In: taz Online, 17 April 2015. Accessed 22 April 2015. The 'Alarm-Phone-Initiative' website provides a web resource to help refugees in need of rescue at sea, while the 'Watch The Med' website monitors and summarises events involving refugees in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...
.
History
The initiative emerged from the "Watch The Med" project, which the activists Lorenzo Pezzani and Charles Heller of "
Forensic Oceanography
Forensic Oceanography is a collaborative project between Lorenzo Pezzani and Charles Heller in which they "critically investigate the militarised border regime imposed by Europe across the Mediterranean Sea". Pezzani is an architect based in London ...
" founded in 2012 to document escape stories and accidents in the Mediterranean. Based on the experience gained and inspired by the initiative of Eritrean Mussie Zerai, who had set up his own helpline for migrants on the way to Europe, the initiative was announced in mid-2014Ilker Atac, Kim Rygiel, Maurice Stierl: "The Contentious Politics of Refugee and Migrant Protest and Solidarity Movements" - Kapitel "A sea of struggle - activist border interventions in the Mediterranean Sea" von Maurice Stierl, Routledge, 2017, and officially started on October 8, 2014, with the help of donations. The date was set on the anniversary of the 2013 disaster when over 260 Syrians drowned off
Lampedusa
Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
The ''comune'' of ...
after the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and
Maltese
Maltese may refer to:
* Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta
* Maltese alphabet
* Maltese cuisine
* Maltese culture
* Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people
* Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...
coast guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...
s had avoided responsibility for days.
The Alarm Phone Initiative justifies its work stating that coast guards are said to have repeatedly ignored emergency calls in the past and the intergovernmental cooperations
Frontex
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex (from French: ''Frontières extérieures'' for "external borders"), is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, exercising in coordination with the border ...
and
Triton
Triton commonly refers to:
* Triton (mythology), a Greek god
* Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune
Triton may also refer to:
Biology
* Triton cockatoo, a parrot
* Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails
* ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus'' ...
did not practice sea rescue, but carried out military defensive actions.
Functionality
According to estimates from 2017, around 120 activists in 12 countries were working for the Alarm Phone Initiative to answer emergency calls at any time. If necessary, foreign language experts can be called in.
The initiative has set up a hotline for refugees in distress at sea (+334 86 51 71 61), with activists distributing the phone number in refugee camps and on the Internet, through refugee organizations, migrant communities and social media.Johanna Hemkentokrax "Watch the Med" - Initiative zur Seenotrettung von Flüchtlingen. Mit dem Telefon Leben retten (''tr. "Initiative for sea rescue of refugees. Save lives with the phone"'') In: MDR Online, 5 January 2016. The employees work on a voluntary basis and operate locally from home.
Since the smugglers often give the refugees a
Thuraya
Thuraya ( ar, الثريا, Gulf Arabic pron.: ; from the Arabic name for the constellation of the Pleiades, ''Thurayya'') is a United Arab Emirates-based regional mobile-satellite service (MSS) provider. The company operates two geosynchrono ...
telephone or they have a mobile phone themselves, they are encouraged to first contact the
coast guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...
and also the alarm phone hotline in the event of an emergency on board. Many emergencies are also reported via
WhatsApp
WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows user ...
. The employee of the Alarm Phone Initiative then forwards the coordinates and further information on the emergency to the appropriate coast guard or the international refugee agency
UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
. Alarm Phone Initiative then observes the reactions of the coast guard and documents the progression of every emergency from the emergency call to the rescue. If, despite repeated reminders, the employees “have the feeling that they will not be rescued immediately”, the Alarm Phone Initiative tries to put pressure on the coast guards and politicians with a message that is distributed via mailing lists. In addition, the activists try to fill the satellite telephones on board the refugee ships with money in order to be able to guarantee the functionality of these. These funds are also used in so-called push-back campaigns.
Requirements
The Alarm Phone Initiative primarily blames the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
and its member states for refugee deaths in the Mediterranean. After it became known at the end of May 2016 that the state MRCC sea
rescue center
Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injury, injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation.
Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and r ...
in Rome was apparently being informed continuously and in good time by Italian liaison officers in North Africa about the departure times and locations of refugee boats, a spokesman for the initiative pointed out that this was not known to Watch The Med until then. Further, with this information it should be easy to identify the three routes, which, due to there being only three places in
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...
from which boats leave, have to be monitored from the air and thus come to the aid of people in good time. Hagen Kopp, a co-founder of 'Watch the Med', called this fact a calculated and monitored death.
The activists had already asked in an open letter in April 2016 that all refugees be evacuated from Libya by ferry to Europe, where they should be granted unconditional protection without being subjected to an inhumane asylum procedure that has lost its original purpose and become only one another means of exclusion.
Projects
As part of the
Afrique Europe Interact
Afrique is Africa in French.
It may also refer to:
* Afrique (impressionist) (1907-1961), South African singer and impressionist, born Alexander Witkin
* ''Afrique'' (album), a 1971 album by Count Basie
* Afrique, an American R&B-jazz studio band ...
group, Alarm Phone Initiative tried to set up another emergency call centre in
Agadez
Agadez ( Air Tamajeq: ⴰⴶⴰⴷⴰⵣ, ''Agadaz''), formerly spelled Agadès, is the fifth largest city in Niger, with a population of 110,497 based on the 2012 census. The capital of Agadez Region, it lies in the Sahara desert, and is a ...
In April 2015, the Alarm Phone Initiative forwarded to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) in Rome the coordinates of a ship from
Zuwara
Zuwarah, or Zuwara or Zwara (Berber language: At Willul or Zwara, ) is a coastal Berber-speaking city in Libya.
Zuwara or At Willul is famous for its beaches and seafood. It is situated west of Tripoli and from the Tunisian border. It is the ...