ADRA Germany Supports Rescue in the Mediterranean

ADP, 24 July 2019   | ADRA Germany joins three other nonprofit service agencies in supporting the Ocean Viking, a ship that operates in the Mediterranean Sea, rescuing refugees attempting to cross into Europe.

“Humanitarian aid is our mission, regardless of ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. Humanitarian aid … is a human and not a political act,” said Christian Whey, managing director of ADRA Germany. 

Every month, hundreds of people make the life-threatening voyage across the Mediterranean to Europe. Many of them lose their lives, including pregnant women and children.

Islamic Relief, ADRA Germany (Adventist Development and Relief Agency), the Children’s Fund Foundation Global Care and the Central Welfare Office of Jews in Germany (ZWST) have been working together since 2018 in supporting and raising funds for SOS MEDITERRANEE.

Many believe the European Union’s strict foreclosure policy has gone too far, allowing for the deaths of the refugees to be something accepted as a consequence, rather than a tragedy that should come to an end. 

Back in April, more than 250 civil society organizations, including ADRA Germany, turned in an open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and criticized that their current foreclosure policy leaves the fate of the dying as something tacitly accepted. “The duty to rescue is international law, and the right to life is not negotiable,” stresses Whey. “Rescue is not a crime but a humanitarian imperative. We therefore call on the federal government to stand up for a human refugee and rescue policy in the Mediterranean and in all EU external borders.”

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency, ADRA, is an international non-governmental organization. ADRA Germany was founded in 1987 by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and is a member of a federally-organized global network with more than 130 national ADRA offices. Further information can be found at www.adra.de