Category: News

  • Astral sets sail with Rumbo a Cuba to bring solar energy to a pediatric hospital in Havana

    Astral sets sail with Rumbo a Cuba to bring solar energy to a pediatric hospital in Havana

    Open Arms presents in Barcelona the Rumbo a Cuba mission, an initiative launched together with more than twenty social and political organizations to denounce the blockade against Cuba and support a concrete humanitarian action: helping ensure the energy self-sufficiency of the ICU at Havana’s Juan Manuel Márquez Pediatric Hospital through photovoltaic panels.

    The Astral sailboat will be open to the public on May 9 and 10 at Moll de la Fusta, Barcelona, from 10:00 to 14:00 and 16:00 to 20:00, so people can visit the vessel and learn more about the initiative.

    Departure is scheduled for Monday, May 11, weather permitting. Before crossing the Atlantic, the Astral will stop in Valencia, Málaga, Cádiz, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with public events and press conferences to raise awareness and gather support for the campaign.

    SUPPORT THE MISSION
  • The Global Sumud Flotilla is intercepted by the Israeli navy 1,100 km from Israel

    The Global Sumud Flotilla is intercepted by the Israeli navy 1,100 km from Israel

    30 April 2026 – 1,100 km from Gaza, in international waters within the Greek SAR zone, Israeli forces intercepted and forcibly boarded at least 21 vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, in which Open Arms has been participating since April 15.

    The vessels were threatened with automatic weapons, some were left adrift after their engines were disabled, and interference was reported in emergency communications and navigation systems, causing loss of contact with part of the flotilla.

    Despite being in an area of European responsibility and having issued distress signals, no rescue mechanisms were activated. What happened constitutes a serious violation of international maritime law.


    At this moment, the Open Arms is carrying out search and rescue operations for the vessels left adrift.

    Open Arms demands:

    • – Immediate restoration of communications
    • – Safety guarantees for all vessels
    • – Activation of search and rescue protocols
    • – An end to any action that puts the flotilla at risk
  • We have set sail for Gaza: Open Arms is at sea with the largest civil flotilla ever organised.

    We have set sail for Gaza: Open Arms is at sea with the largest civil flotilla ever organised.

    We have departed from Barcelona together with the Global Sumud Flotilla, the largest civil mission ever headed to Gaza: more than 100 vessels and over 1,000 people from more than 70 countries.

    After opening a maritime corridor in 2024, at the beginning of the Israeli siege, we are returning to the sea. Not to observe, but to act.

    We will support the flotilla with logistical, technical and medical assistance and, if necessary, also in emergency situations. We will be present to document and denounce what happens during the mission.

    “While some hesitate, we move, we act, and we return once again,” says our founder, Oscar Camps.

  • On 14 April, we presented our book at the European Parliament and brought rescue to the heart of the debate

    On 14 April, we presented our book at the European Parliament and brought rescue to the heart of the debate

    Brussels, 14 April 2026 — Open Arms took part in the European Parliament hearing “Mediterranean: Restarting from the people”, promoted by MEP Nicola Zingaretti, within the framework of the future Pact for the Mediterranean.

    In this space, the organisation brought its direct experience at sea after more than ten years of rescues in the central Mediterranean, in a context in which deaths continue to rise despite a decrease in departures.

    Open Arms called for people to be placed back at the centre of European policies, with concrete measures such as a European search and rescue mission, safe and legal pathways, and an end to practices that violate international law.

    In the same framework, and on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, the organisation presented the book Open Arms. A Mission Against the Current, which brings together ten years of rescues, testimonies and first-person stories. The volume has also been added to the European Parliament Library, as part of an exercise in memory and a direct appeal to the European institutions.

    Because saving lives should not be a political choice, but an obligation.

  • El Open Arms se une a la Global Sumud Flotilla. Zarpará el 12 de abril desde Barcelona.

    El Open Arms se une a la Global Sumud Flotilla. Zarpará el 12 de abril desde Barcelona.

    Open Arms will head to Gaza with the Global Sumud Flotilla. It will set sail on April 12 from Barcelona.

    Because the tragedy has not ended. It has only stopped making headlines.

    The siege continues, even as the world looks the other way. What is happening is not just a conflict: it is the sustained suffering of a civilian population trapped with no way out.

    In March 2024, we opened a maritime humanitarian corridor when it seemed impossible.
    Despite being coordinated, we had to suspend the mission after an attack that killed seven humanitarian workers.

    We promised not to forget Gaza. Because ignoring what is happening does not make it any less real.
    Because when governments remain silent, civil society must act.

    Open Arms will set sail with the Global Sumud Flotilla.
    Not only to bear witness.
    But to act.
    Once again.

    SUPPORT THE MISSION
  • Oscar Camps received the Encomienda de Número of the Order of Civil Merit

    Oscar Camps received the Encomienda de Número of the Order of Civil Merit

    Oscar Camps’ trajectory has been recognised with the Encomienda de Número of the Order of Civil Merit, awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    It is one of the highest official honours, intended to acknowledge significant service in civil activities.

    The Open Arms team is proud of this well-deserved recognition, and we feel a part of it.

    Oscar’s words:

    “I receive this Encomienda de Número of the Order of Civil Merit with gratitude and respect, but also with the real discomfort of not knowing what to do with recognitions when you come from the sea.
    From having seen people drown. From having recovered bodies. From having arrived too late, far too many times.”



    This honour is not something I receive personally.
    It belongs to all the people who sustain Open Arms, knowing that there are human beings drowning while the decisions that could save them are delayed, diluted, or avoided.
    People who have acted when saving lives began to be scrutinised, monitored and, in some cases, persecuted.

    Open Arms was born in 2015 for one fundamental reason: there were people dying at sea.
    Not to manage borders.
    Not to replace States.
    Not to do politics.
    But to do what needed to be done: go into the water and bring someone out alive.

    10 years later, that mission has not changed. What has changed is the context.
    Where there was once cooperation, today there is obstruction.
    Where there was solidarity, today there is suspicion — and sometimes hatred.
    And where international law should offer certainty, far too often we find the silence of States.

    That is why this recognition matters. It comes at a time when humanitarian aid has been criminalised and used as a pretext for migration policies rooted in fear and exclusion.
    For the State to affirm today that saving lives is a civic value and not a crime is no small gesture. It has consequences. It matters a great deal.

    But it would be insufficient if it remained only a symbol.
    The Mediterranean is still the deadliest border in the world.
    And it is so as the result of specific political decisions

    Europe —and Spain as well— needs policies consistent with the human rights they proclaim. No more patches. No more looking the other way. No more shifting onto civil society what is an institutional responsibility.

    History does not judge intentions. It judges decisions.
    And it judges what each of us did when we knew what was happening.

    Saving lives is a principle. And principles are not negotiable.”

    Oscar Camps

  • 10 YEARS OF OPEN ARMS: AN EVENT AGAINST THE CURRENT

    10 YEARS OF OPEN ARMS: AN EVENT AGAINST THE CURRENT

    Open Arms commemorates 10 years of commitment to life and human rights with an event in Barcelona

    Badalona, September 2025 – Ten years have passed since Open Arms took its first step in the Mediterranean, when a small group of lifeguards decided to help in response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the shores of Lesbos. What began as an urgent and voluntary act in September 2015 soon became a collective movement that has saved more than 72,000 lives at sea and has defended the dignity of people, with a firm commitment to human rights and against hatred.

    To mark this anniversary, Open Arms will host an event on September 29 at the Llotja de Mar in Barcelona—an occasion that is not meant to be a celebration, but rather a collective act of remembrance, commitment, and advocacy.

    The evening will include a commemorative dinner and a unique artistic performance by La Fura dels Baus. The event will be hosted by journalist and presenter Marc Giró, and will bring together artists and prominent figures from the worlds of culture, sports, and research who have accompanied the organization over the years, among them Rozalén, Rigoberta Bandini, and Joan Manuel Serrat, as well as representatives of allied entities and organizations that have walked alongside Open Arms throughout this journey.

    Ten years ago, everything began with a simple, necessary, and radical gesture: refusing to look away. Since then, thousands of people, organizations, and leading figures from the worlds of culture and civil society have joined our mission. This event is for all of them,” explains Oscar Camps, founder of Open Arms.

  • The rescue on an oil platform marks the most critical moment of Mission 118.

    The rescue on an oil platform marks the most critical moment of Mission 118.

    Central Mediterranean, June 2025 – Mission 118 of the humanitarian organization Open Arms, carried out by the sailing vessel Astral, has come to an end after completing three rescue operations that helped protect the lives of 169 people at sea, including women, children, and two newborns. Three interventions under extreme conditions that once again draw attention to a migration route as deadly as it is forgotten.

    The first rescue took place on May 31, after the Seabird aircraft (Sea-Watch) spotted a drifting boat carrying 29 Eritrean nationals, adrift and without any means of protection. The crew of the Astral provided life jackets and assisted the castaways until their safe transfer to the competent authorities.

    The second operation was launched on the night of June 5, in the Libyan SAR zone. Aboard a precarious boat, without water, food, or fuel, were 86 people — including 8 women, 10 children, and a baby — after drifting for two days. Alerted via radio, the Open Arms teams carried out an emergency rescue, including interventions in the water, and provided immediate care to the rescued individuals.

    The most critical rescue took place between June 7 and 8, when a joint alert from Alarm Phone and Seabird guided the Astral to an abandoned oil platform. There, 54 people — including 5 women, 2 children, and 2 newborns — had managed to take refuge after a shipwreck. One of the women gave birth on the platform itself, without medical assistance, after being trapped for more than three days in extreme conditions. All were successfully evacuated and received care on board.

    With 169 lives protected, Mission 118 once again highlights the urgent need for an effective, coordinated, and human rights-centered search and rescue system. In the absence of institutional responses, civil society continues to fill an unacceptable void.

  • On December 20, the Palermo Court will issue a verdict in the trial against Matteo Salvini.

    On December 20, the Palermo Court will issue a verdict in the trial against Matteo Salvini.

    The former Minister of the Interior and current Minister of Transport is accused of kidnapping and failing to perform official acts, after having prevented the disembarkation of 147 people, including minors, rescued by the NGO Open Arms in three rescue operations in August 2019 for 19 days.

    The Palermo Prosecutor’s Office requested 6 years in prison for the accused, in addition to accessory penalties, during the hearing on September 14, 2024. The request is addressed to the current Deputy Prime Minister, who at the time was head of the Ministry of the Interior, and is accused of the events related to the 65th mission of the NGO Open Arms in August 2019.

    The legal case began in November 2019, when the Palermo Prosecutor’s Office asked the Palermo Court’s College for Ministerial Offenses to open an investigation against Senator Matteo Salvini, then Minister of the Interior, based on information obtained from the Agrigento Prosecutor’s Office. The investigations revolve around several accusations arising from the events of August of that year, related to the disembarkation of migrants of different nationalities rescued aboard the Open Arms.

    This is a unique process of its kind, since for the first time in the history of the Italian Republic, a minister is indicted for actions taken in the exercise of his office. The Palermo prosecutors have requested that the defendant be held criminally responsible for the crimes of kidnapping and omission of official acts, arguing that there was a “willful and conscious disregard for the rules and a deliberate and voluntary denial of personal liberty to 147 people.”

    The verdict is expected on December 20 in Palermo, where the final hearing of the first instance trial will take place at the Casa Circondariale “Pagliarelli” court. Oscar Camps, founder of the NGO Open Arms, lawyer Arturo Salerni, and Marc Reig Creus, captain of the Open Arms during the 65th mission in 2019, will be present.

    Acceso al Informe completo del proceso judicial contra Matteo Salvini

    Badalona a 10 de diciembre, 2024

     

    Laura Lanuza
    DPTO PRENSA OPEN ARMS  +34 649869001 – laura@openarms.es

  • Joint humanitarian initiative by Open Arms and World Central Kitchen to open a maritime humanitarian corridor to the Gaza Strip from Cyprus

    Joint humanitarian initiative by Open Arms and World Central Kitchen to open a maritime humanitarian corridor to the Gaza Strip from Cyprus

    It is a tragic situation.

    Over 25,000 people have lost their lives due to bombings, and hundreds of thousands are at risk of succumbing to hunger, a consequence of the brutal violation of human rights faced by the civilian population of Gaza. The plight has reached a critical juncture, with more than 1.7 million people displaced and tens of thousands injured in a territory devastated by Israeli bombings for over four months. In recent weeks, the peril of famine has escalated in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of children are now facing the specter of severe malnutrition, with some in imminent danger of losing their lives. The urgency of the situation demands immediate attention and humanitarian intervention.

    At Open Arms, we refuse to stand idly by in the face of the inhumane conditions experienced by the Palestinian civilian population. In response, we have partnered with World Central Kitchen to challenge the maritime blockade of Gaza and establish a vital entry route for food and necessities, alleviating the dire needs of millions affected by Israeli attacks. Although this mission is highly complex, it is undeniably necessary. Our vessel, the Open Arms, is equipped with tons of food and water, and our dedicated crew is ready to assist the most vulnerable. However, we cannot embark on this humanitarian mission without your support.

    Your contribution is crucial to launching this operation.

    To uphold our commitment to defending the life and dignity of people in vulnerable situations, your support is essential!