Hello
Following on from previous threads (here and here), we've spent a couple of days looking in to this. As you can imagine, lots of the organisations working on this are extremely busy at the moment so it's taken us a little while to pin down some relevant info - sorry for the delay.
On search and rescue in the Med: the UK government now contributes what several organisations say is a pretty sizeable package of resources to the EU's Mediterranean search and rescue effort. One organisation told us that 'the UK has totally stepped up; we now have more resources in the water than any other EU country'. The thinking seems to be that given the size of the Med, and the desperately unsafe boats/dinghies that are being used, there is just no way to guarantee that people will not drown; the consensus seems to be that the best focus would be on providing safer routes to countries of refuge in the EU, and a better welcome for refugees once they're here.
That doesn't mean we can't focus on search and rescue if you still think we should. There are organisations like Medicins sans Frontieres and MOAS, who are using donations to run their own search and rescue missions, and we can give them a big push and help you to encourage more private donations to them. But it's worth noting that most organisations in the field seem to think that if there is an insufficiency in EU search and rescue, it's not because of the UK government.
There is also a current initiative by Save the Children that we could swing behind, and perhaps do some joint campaigning on. It's based on a five-point plan of action for EU governments, calling for the following:
- maintaining search and rescue, and making sure EU operations have adequate resources and the right mandate (ie that they concentrate on saving lives, not on border protection);
- providing safe and legal routes into Europe for refugees, with a particular emphasis on the rights and safety of children;
- providing proper reception and support for refugees in EU countries, including minimum standards for things like shelter, medical treatment, legal advice, and access to health and education facilities;
- an effective, balanced and mandatory relocation and resettlement agreement for refugees, involving all EU countries (eg mandatory quotas for numbers each country must take); and
- tackling the root causes of unsafe migration. This involves things like putting international pressure on the warring parties in Syria to end the conflict; supporting Syria's neighbouring countries (where most refugees from Syria are living, often in camps) by fully funding the Regional Refugee and Resilience plan (currently only 40% funded); and assisting the World Food Programme to re-start its food aid programme in Jordan, which was recently suspended due to lack of money.
Save the Children are also asking the UK government to commit to taking in 3000 unaccompanied child refugees, who sadly are already in Europe without any adult protection.
Let us know your thoughts working with Save the Children on these two things (the 5-point plan, and asking the UK government to commit to taking 3000 unaccompanied child refugees from within the EU). It seems like a comprehensive proposal to us, but of course ultimately it's up to you.
We've also got this page full of links to various actions you can take if you want to do something on an individual basis.
Thanks
MNHQ