Tag: Missions

However, the need of having a bigger boat capable of facing sea missions with greater security has been stated due to the difficulties we face there. So far this year, the number of people that had lost their lives in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe was raised to more than 1,555 lives, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

In the face of this need, Enrique Piñeyro, an Argentine philanthropist who has collaborated with Open Arms through his NGO named Solidaire, with humanitarian flights to India and Mozambique, has joined our mission through the grant of the new ship ‘Open Arms Uno’. 

‘OPEN ARMS UNO’ FEATURES 

The ‘Open Arms Uno’ was constructed in 2000 in Norway. The new ship is 66 meters long (length), 15 meters wide (width), is 4 times higher tonnage than the old ‘Open Arms’ tugboat and has a 353 square meter deck where a helicopter can land in case of emergency and evacuation. 

It is a ship designed to perform mass rescue tasks, takes on board 4 semi-rigid boats, also known as RHIB, and it allows us to embrace 300 people, a number that can expand in case of emergency. It also has 31 places for the crew and a hospital with 26 beds. 

We need your help

The ‘Open Arms Uno’, a ship prepared for massive rescue at the sea, will help us to rescue more people with safety, to protect the most vulnerable lives and fulfill the duty of anyone who sees lives in danger at the sea, as stipulated by the Law of the Sea and international agreements.

But the operative costs of ‘Open Arms Uno’ will be higher. That’s why now, more than ever, we need your encouragement and help to continue fulfilling the commitment of not leaving any life adrift.

Can you help us?

That is why we return. To protect the lives of the most vulnerables and fulfill the obligation that any boat or person who crosses with lives in danger has, according to the Law of Sea and international agreements.

Our commitment is with life

During summer, our sailboat Astral carries on several missions with observation, surveillance and reporting tasks. During these missions we have rescued and assisted more than 650 draft persons near the Lampedusa island, including pregnant women, kids and babies.

We need your help

Six years have passed since the beginning of Open Arms. What began as a volunteer lifeguard team action in 2015, has turned into a powerful citizen response, capable of saving more than 62,000 lives at sea and protecting the most vulnerable during the COVID 19 emergency. Everything has been possible thanks to people like you, who have joined this great family. Now, more than ever, in these difficult times, we need your encouragement and help to continue fulfilling the commitment of not leaving any life adrift.

The 33-ton cargo consists of legumes, canned fish, rice and sunflower oil. They have been delivered to Caritas Mozambique, which will distribute it to the affected population.

The objective of this assistance is to support the communities of Cabo Delgado, a coastal region from the north of Mozambique in the border of Tanzania. Since 2017, these communities suffer continuous and indiscriminate attacks by armed groups affiliated with the Islamic State that devastate villages, torture, rape and murder.

In recent years, jihad violence has caused more than 2.800 deaths and at least 730.000 Mozambicans from that region have abandoned their land.

Many displaced people are in the neighbouring regions, and three-quarters of them are children and women, who, usually, have no refuge or are undocumented and are struggling to survive.

This initiative is part of the Open Arms mission, which, for years, have been trying to help people to solve problems in countries of origin. In Mozambique, just as in other African countries, desperation leads thousands of displaced people to set out on dangerous and risky journeys.

THE CAUSES OF A FORGOTTEN CONFLICT

According to UNHCR, the UN office for refugees, the situation of Cabo Delgado is critical and the chronic poverty, climate crisis and recurrent illness, including covid-19, make it worse.

Since March, the rapid escalation of the conflict in Cabo Delgado has caused a considerable increase in the number of needy people. In fact, it has almost doubled as the violence has intensified.

Furthermore, Mozambique is still recovering from devastating cyclones which took place in 2019. Also, it is dealing with a complicated health situation deteriorated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left a large part of the population without livelihood, and the high risk of spreading other infectious diseases such as cholera.

Cabo Delgado is a well-supplied area that possesses precious gems and natural gas fields, but the exploitations of their natural recourses are mainly in the hands of multinationals.

“The truth is that there are immense necessities. The international community needs more resources but also does the government of Mozambique, and it is fundamental to act before it is too late”, has stated Gillian Triggs, Deputy High Commissioner for protection of UNHCR.

The Bathalapalli hospital is currently at 100% of its capacity and some beds of the Infectious Diseases Unit have had to be adapted for patients with covid-19.

India continues to record alarming numbers of infections that exceed 400,000 new cases a day. The country faces a total of 21.5 million accumulated cases, 3.65 active cases and more than 4,000 deaths a day.

Now the most worrying emergency is the increase in infections among boys and girls with more serious diagnoses. The country is still struggling to find more oxygen reserves to alleviate the health emergency in the country and the lack of oxygen in its hospitals. Around 40 countries around the world have announced the dispatch of humanitarian aid to India.

The Boeing 787 with the medical supplies left Barcelona last Friday thanks to the collaboration between Open Arms and the Vicente Ferrer Foundation and has had the support of Enrique Piñeyro, pilot and president of Solidaire.

Both the material and the logistics have been achieved thanks to the rapid response of civil society and numerous collaborating entities and individuals, who have made it possible in just 5 days of mobilization.

On November 1, 2020, the Open Arms embarks on the most dangerous migratory route in the world and one of the toughest missions we have experienced so far.
Three rescues, and a terrible shipwreck that, despite our enormous efforts, claimed the lives of six people, including a baby, Joseph, victims who were fleeing the purest horror, before our eyes… This documentary shows us the harsh reality of what happens every day in the largest cemetery on the planet.

All compiled by Jean-Marc Joseph and produced by Vice News.