Petitions about Search and Rescue

Catherine Henderson: Save the Children has just launched a petition addressed to all party leaders with a view to a change of policy after the election: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/restart-the-rescue

Restart the rescue: help stop children drowning in the Mediterranean

PETITION TEXT

Dear party leader,

I am calling on you to stop children drowning in the Mediterranean.

No child should drown as they travel to avoid a desperate situation or seek a better life.

On 27 May the European Commission adopts a new Agenda for Migration.

We would like you to use this chance to

  • Push for a significant scale up of search and rescue.
  • Commit to joint political and financial responsibility in rescue operations.
  • Improve the protection of children according to international law.

– See more at: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/restart-the-rescue#sthash.xmpWRniA.dpuf

Petitioning President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and 1 other
Stop the deaths at sea now!

Change petition

They all have names, everyone of the 700 people that drowned in the Mediterranean this weekend: a name and a story.

I know, I could easily be one of them. My name is Tareke Brahne. I fled from Eritrea when I was 17, escaping the military, war and a fierce dictatorship. I was desperate. Nothing could stop me, not even the fear of dying at sea. I was rejected on my first attempt and tried again. When arrived in Italy in 2005, I tried to help people like me who were fleeing by working for different organisations.

The tragedy this weekend is the largest loss of life, refugees and migrants, that has ever occurred in the Mediterranean Sea. And the week before, 400 people were killed in a similar incident. Thousands of people will lose their lives in the coming weeks, if the EU does not act now.

Sign this petition and ask the European Union to restore a robust operation of search and rescue at sea now.

In 2014, approximately 219,000 people crossed the Mediterranean, and 3,500 lives were lost. Europe can not continue to count the victims and avoid putting in place a rescue plan.

The current EU operation, Triton, focuses primarily on border control. This operation should be strengthened and focus on saving lives. And along with this enhanced operation, Europe must also make credible legal channels for people fleeing from conflict.

Sign this petition and ask the EU for the urgent deployment of a major search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean, as well as the opening of legal channels to prevent those fleeing conflict and persecution to address deadly trips.

Tareke Brhane is the president of the October 3 Committee, a nonprofit organisation founded as a result of the sinking of Lampedusa, October 3, 2013, when 368 people lost their lives. The goal of the organisation is the recognition of a day of remembrance to honour migrants who have died, as well as people who risked their lives to save them, to be celebrated every 3 October. Tareke received the Medal for social activism in 2014, during the XIV Summit of the Nobel Prize for Peace.

LETTER TO
President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron MP