TEAM
Jakob Trepel, Fritz Wördehoff, Jasmin Zehe
PARTNERS
YEAR
2020
ABTRACT
The Southern Border of the EU, consisting mainly of the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the most lethal border regions on the globe right now. In 2016 more than 5000 people drowned there. Until then the number barely dropped below 2000 people dying per year until 2020. For years people attempt crossing the Mediterranean with improvised and insufficient watercrafts, oftentimes losing orientation, being robbed of motors and fuel or finding themselves pushed back by FRONTEX allies. Civilian Sea Rescue NGOs have been active for years in developing protocols to prevent casualties. At the same time, the Mediterranean Sea is a logistical hub and intersection of cultures, commercial traffic and markets. The project aims at reflecting both realities in parallel by enabling private merchant vessels to engage in this politically produced humanitarian crisis.