Graffitti Announces Valletta Vigil For Girl Who ‘Died Of Thirst’ While Waiting To Be Rescued
Activist group Moviment Graffitti is holding a vigil on Friday in honour of Loujin, a four-year-old asylum seeker who died at sea, reportedly of thirst while in Malta’s search and rescue zone.
The vigil will take place at 6:30pm in front of Ta’ Liesse Church, overlooking the Grand Harbour.
“It is time to end these policies that dehumanize and brutalize the most vulnerable people,” Graffitti said.
“It is time to end these policies that deny the right to asylum. It is time to end these policies that delay rescue. It is time to end these policies that force people back to war zones and torturous detention camps. It is time to end these policies that kill a four-year old girl at sea and other children.”
Loujin was part of a group of Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian migrants who recently sailed from Lebanon to Italy seeking job opportunities. However, their boat ran into trouble on the way and started to sink.
Activist network Alarm Phone, which said it was in touch with the migrants via a satellite phone, said the people told them they didn’t have enough water or food on board and that they were bailing out water that was seeping into the boat.
Alarm Phone also warned that a child had died on board due to dehydration, while Sicily-based human rights activist Nawal Soufi named the victim as Loujin and shared a photo of her.
The boat’s GPS signal reportedly showed it had reached Malta’s search and rescue zone, an area in the Mediterranean in which Malta is legally responsible for coordinating rescues.
Peppi Azzopardi has called for a monument to be set up in honour of Loujin
However, it warned that the Maltese authorities didn’t respond to its request to launch a rescue mission, and similar calls to Greek and Italian authorities also fell on deaf ears. Eventually the Greek coast guard intervened, the migrants were picked up by the BBC Pearl cargo ship and taken to Crete.
A number of people, including PN MP Mark Anthony Sammut and former President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, have criticised the authorities for their lack of urgency in rescuing Loujin, while journalist Peppi Azzopardi has called for a public monument to be erected in the young girl’s honour.
Will you attend this vigil?
READ NEXT: PN MP Alex Borg Insists Fibromyalgia Care Must Be Prioritised Over Free Sex Reassignment Surgery
