Baħar Ċimiterju: Senglea Protest Sheds Sobering Light On Migrants And The Mediterranean
A protest organised by local activists shed light on the devastating reality that lies just beyond our shores.
The name of the event, Baħar Ċimiterju, signifies how deadly the Mediterranean Sea is, especially for those fleeing their homes to seek refuge and asylum. It further protested the Maltese authorities, the European Border, and the Coast Guard Agency for “contributing” to these deaths.
“The Mediterranean Sea remains one of the deadliest border spaces in the world. Tens of thousands of people have died or gone missing attempting to cross the Med,” a joint statement penned by the different activist organisations wrote.
The groups are urging Maltese authorities to:
- Conduct and coordinate timely rescue of people in distress in our search and rescue zone
- Enact policies and espouse rhetoric that upholds the value of all human life.
- Immediately end the policy of coordinating pushbacks from Malta’s search and rescue zone.
- Cease support for and collaboration with actors that violate human rights, such as the Libyan Coast Guard and the Tariq Bin Zayed Brigade.
- Stop criminalising humanitarian rescue organisations and start coordinating with them to save lives at sea.
In 2023, 3,041 people died or disappeared in the sea making it one of the deadliest years on record.
“Maltese authorities, alongside the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, continue to contribute to these deaths by playing politics with people’s lives at sea, delaying rescue, and using their platforms to espouse the rhetoric of being hard on migrants. These policies undermine our values, spread fear and hatred, and endanger the lives of innocent people.”
“The Maltese authorities have also pursued a policy of externalizing the border to North Africa. Neither Libya nor Tunisia have robust legal frameworks that protect the rights of refugees or migrating people. Human rights violations in Libya, including torture, extortion sexual violence, and enslavement, are well documented and especially shocking.”
“Nevertheless, the Maltese authorities collaborate with quasi-legal entities, such as the Libyan Coast Guard and militias to have people forcibly returned from within our search and rescue zone to Libya.”
“For example, in 2023 the authorities began providing coordinates of vessels in distress in Malta’s search and rescue zone to the Tariq Bin Zayed Brigade, a Libyan militia with a well-documented track record of human rights violations. Consequently, hundreds of people, many of them children, were intercepted in our waters and forced back to detention and degradation in Libya.”
The statement went on to say that these actions are a violation of non-refoulement – a legal principle enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights which prohibits the transfer of anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious harm.
The protest was held yesterday morning at Gardjola Gardens.
The organisations are:
Aditus Foundation
African Media Association
Azzjoni Kattolika Maltija
Blue Door Education
Caritas Malta
Dance Beyond Borders
Humanists Malta
Jesuit Refugee Service Malta
Kopin
Malta LGBTIQ+ Rights Movement, MGRM
Men Against Violence
Migrant Women Association Malta
Moviment Graffitti
Office of the Dean – Faculty of Education UOM
Repubblika
SAR Malta Network
Segretarjat Assistenza Socjali (AKM)
SPARK15
The Gender And Sexualities Department, University of Malta
The Justice and Peace Commission
The Migrants Commission
The People for Change Foundation
Women’s Rights Foundation
Young Progressive Beings
YMCA Malta
Did you attend this protest?
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