RPT - Germany's Sea-Eye Migrant Rescue Charity Sees No Threat From EU Naval Mission

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th April, 2020) German migrant rescue charity Sea-Eye does not expect the new EU joint naval mission to affect its operation in the Mediterranean, the nonprofit's spokeswoman told Sputnik.

"We plan to continue our work and we don't expect the new EU naval mission to interrupt our life-saving efforts in any way, since the EU naval mission is not primarily dedicated to rescue operations," Sophie Weidenhiller said.

Rome-based Operation Irini was launched last week to prevent arms smuggling to Libya. Weidenhiller said it would focus on the Eastern Mediterranean, which is far from the established migrant routes.

"We do not think that this will improve the situation of people fleeing across the Central Mediterranean Sea. Since there is still no state-funded rescue organization dedicated to saving people from drowning... civil rescue ships need to fulfill that duty," she added.

The NGO's rescue ship, Alan Kurdi, has been stranded off Italy's coast with 150 rescued people on board after it shut ports to rescue vessels overnight, saying they were no longer considered a safe haven as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic. Malta has also refused to take in the migrants.