Catégorie : Actualites

This is the tenth humanitarian flight fulfilled by Open Arms to respond to the emergency in Ukraine. It has been possible through the combined efforts led by Solidaire, in collaboration with DKV Integralia Foundation and the support of Saskatchewan-Ukraine Response Team on behalf of the Canadian government, province of Saskatchewan.

From today, more people and more than 90 families including the 26 minors and 8 babies on board, will be able to start a new life far from the atrocities of a conflict that began more than 4 months ago.

In 1972 the cry of pain of that girl, named Kim Phuc Phan Thi, who was only 9 years old at the time, reached the ears of millions of people. People who demanded justice and help for all the innocent victims and put an end to the horror of the conflict.

“That photo went through me in adolescence and I remember that it transformed me. I couldn’t understand how they could do that. It was one of the most dramatic moments of my life. Now, being able to take her on the plane, I feel like the circle is closing. We are repairing something, we are doing something,” says Enrique Piñeyro, who invited Kim to travel to Canada on this humanitarian flight. “Her flag is an anti-war flag. What we are saying is that wars are always the same, whether initiated by John F. Kennedy or by Vladimir Putin. It is a horror against humanity, all its ever been is bombing schools, civilians, hospitals, killing innocent people. They are always decisions of a politician who picks up the phone, gives the order to start hostilities and then ignores the real consequences”, concludes Piñeyro.

Kim Phuc Phan Thi has been a woman committed to peace and against all armed conflicts in the world for years. We are proud that she has accompanied us on our tenth humanitarian corridor, from Warsaw to Regina, Canada. “It moves me a lot. I am so grateful to still be alive,” says Kim on board the flight. “Fifty years have passed, it’s hard, but Enrique’s idea of ​​taking me back in time and turning this into a message for peace is so beautiful. I’m very grateful to him, to Solidaire, to Open Arms. This is my dream, my purpose, the reason I’m still alive. »

Since March, Open Arms has been able to safely place more than 2,000 Ukrainian refugees, mostly elderly people, mothers with children, and entire families who will be able to live in peace, in shelters.

“Kim’s photograph served, in 1972, to denounce the use of napalm against the civilian population during the Vietnam War. The photograph of little Aylan Kurdi, drowned when trying to reach the Greek coast with his family, led to the creation of Open Arms: this small non-profit NGO that has managed to rescue more than 62,000 lives in the Aegean and the Mediterranean in 6 years”, says Oscar Camps, founder and director of Open Arms.

“50 years after the painful photograph of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, we can ask ourselves: Can a photograph change the course of history? Today our organization, which was created from an image, flies from Warsaw to Canada, a place of refuge for the 236 people fleeing the war in Ukraine. We live in a world with 63 active armed conflicts, is it that the victims of all of them do not matter? How is it possible that images like the ones we see every day in the Mediterranean, in Ukraine, in Melilla, do not make us decide that enough is enough and ask to stop the systematic violence?” asks the founder of Open Arms.

Thanks to the alliance with the World Central Kitchen organization founded by chef José Andrés, our old Open Arms tugboat unloaded 24 tons of food in the Odessa region in Ukraine last Friday, an area particularly affected by the conflict due to the proximity of the fighting. 

It was not an easy operation. We have been sailing for days through the Mediterranean sea, the Aegean sea, the Black sea, the Mármara Sea and the Danube River. We have faced many technical, administrative and logistical adversities. Finally, we have managed to get food to the most vulnerable people trapped in one of the most deprived areas of the country.  

Concurrently, we have evacuated more than 1,500 refugees in seven different flights to Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Buenos Aires, thanks to a humanitarian air corridor from Warsaw (Poland) in collaboration with Solidaire. Last evacuation took place a week ago with 238 refugees on board, mainly eldery people and women with children. Thanks to the different entities of civil society, people have been given a dignified welcome. New flights are planned in coming weeks.

Furthermore, since the invasion of Ukraine began, 29 trucks with more than 350 tons of humanitarian aid, with basic necessities for the civil population as a first response to the emergency, have arrived in the country to help the situation.

And we continue with the project Doctors for Ukraine (doctorsforukraine.org) in alliance with DKV, with who we offer free digital medical assistance to the population affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

We don’t forget the Mediterranean

Although all focus and media attention is concentrated on Eastern Europe, we do not forget the victims of other conflict areas and tragedies such as the ones in the Central Mediterranean. An invisible and often, silenced war.

With very few resources but a lot of determination, we have rescued more than 62,000 people. However, the sea continues swallowing innocent lives.

For this reason and to follow our commitment of not letting any life adrift, we return to the Central Mediterranean. This Sunday our sailboat Astral will set sail on a mission of observation, vigilance and denunciation of the largest mass grave on the planet. 

We count on you to protect their lives.

Today more than ever, we need your help to continue protecting the lives of those fleeing war, persecution and poverty. Without you, it will not be possible.

Thanks to the signature of a collaboration protocol with Caritas Italiana organization, the transfers have been coordinated jointly and they have guaranteed the reception of people in Italian territory and their assistance during the stay in the country. The support received by Pro style Foundation in Poland and from the entities Audax, DKV Integralia Foundation and Ergo Hestia is also key with their apportation of volunteers and translators.

Open Arms will remain in Warsaw (Poland) with a displaced team, to continue on the ground and understand the needs related to the conflict, with the objective of organize more humanitarian corridors thanks to the strategic alliance with the Solidaire organization that has a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane, capable of carrying 250 people in every flight.

Likewise, the operations team in Barcelona has continued for 2 weeks with the logistics coordination of ground shipments of essential materials for the civil population, under de coordination of the General Consulate in Barcelona.

We reiterate once again that our mission is to protect life. We are where we are needed to defend the rights, the dignity and safety of every human being. We hope that this tragic war, which has forced millions of people to move, will be an opportunity to rethink European migration policies to affirm, once it all, that lives are all equal and must be equally protected. 

Thanks to the strategic alliance between Open Arms and Solidaire and the collaboration of different reception organizations that provide spaces and families, last Saturday the 12th the first humanitarian flight of this corridor departed from Warsaw (Poland). A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for Barcelona and Madrid with 222 vulnerable people on board, among them were elderly people, families, women and children, who were moved with their families or in their host spaces.

For a few days Open Arms has been in charge of the logistical emergency coordination in the Barcelona metropolitan area for the land shipment of emergency medical supplies, basic necessities and food. All under the coordination of the Ukrainian embassy in Spain and in collaboration with different entities. Several trucks have already reached their destination, both in places in the interior of Ukraine and in cities near the border, and trucks will continue to be sent in the coming days to alleviate as much as we can the shortcomings of the civilian population, the most affected by this conflict.

But Russia’s indiscriminate attacks continue and we must keep supporting the most vulnerable in this emergency. Therefore, we ask that you help us to collaborate as much as possible in #EmergencyUcraine. We have opened a site dedicated exclusively to this mission where you can join our efforts.

https://www.openarms.es/ayudaucrania/

We count on you to protect their lives.

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.