34C3 - The seizure of the Iuventa

34C3 preroll music

Herald Angel: And I'm very happy to have 2
speakers here who

will tell us about their
experiences on the Iuventa, the ship that

was seized in august this year. Kathrin
has been doing search and rescue

operations in the mediteranean since 2
years, and she was on board when the boat

was seized, when the Iuventa was seized,
and she was even Head of Staff. Hendrik

has also been active in such a rescue
operation as a RHIB

chuckles
Voice-over: driver

Herald Angel: RHIBer, which is a kind of
special function, and he has also been

doing this for 2 years approximately, for
different NGOs. And I am very happy that

they are here and can tell us about what
happend on the Iuventa. So, we have

translation to German on the Mumble that
is in the back now, and yeah, please

welcome them to the big applause, thank
you.

applause
Hendrik: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for the

introduction. Hello everybody. Welcome to
the talk "The Seizure of the Iuventa". We

are glad that a few people made it here.
When we actually planned for the talk we

were planning for one hour, so we put a
lot of content in the description and it

was only two weeks ago that we learned we
only have half an hour so we were really

pressed to focus a bit. So. Yeah what I
will do is I will give you a quick

introduction into the area we operate in
which is the central Mediterranean. I will

tell you what we do there. And after that
Kathrin will talk about the actual seizure

of the Iuventa. So this is Kathrin, I'm
Hendrik obviously, I think you already

noticed that. So yeah I like maps. So I
put this map in the slides. So, migration

is happening we all know that. And people
are trying to reach Europe for, yeah in

search of a better and safer life. So the
reasons why they are fleeing are very

different. There are war, violence,
discrimination, prosecution, or poverty.

They all have their reasons to leave their
homes. So what we see here is the routes

these refugees take are constantly
changing and that is due to changing

political circumstances. We have different
routes through the Mediterranean. For a

while now we have the eastern route that
was quite famous two years ago when a lot

of people tried to cross the Mediterranean
from Turkey to Greece. That was basically

closed. We had the western route like 10,
15 years ago. A lot of people tried to

cross it from Morocco to Spain or to the
Canary Islands. And at the moment we

mainly are focusing on the central
Mediterranean route, that is where all the

migration, or most of the migration is
happening. People are trying to cross

mainly from Libya, which is the brown spot
at the bottom, to Italy. In the last

couple of months there also were people
trying to cross from Tunisia, but still

the main part of the migration is
happening through Libya. So to give you a

better understanding about what we are
talking here, we draw you a map with some

distances on it. The distances are given
in nautical miles. That is the unit we use

at sea. Just to give you an example: Under
perfect conditions, a refugee boat that

would leave Libya would take at least 3
days to Lampedusa, more than 4 days to

Malta, and more than 5,5 days to Sicily.
That would be under perfect conditions

that never exist. There are always waves.
There is the wind, the boats often don't

have a compass so they don't know where to
go. So in fact the only boat we know of

that really made it to Malta was underway
for 8 days. So the distances these people

have to cross, have to cover, are quite
long. So the classic boats we encounter on

that route, these type of boats, below you
see a wooden boat, these wooden boats have

really different sizes. They take from 100
up to 1000 people. Usually 500 people with

plus minus 100, but their fit up to 1000
people in them. And on the upper part you

see the typical boat that was used until
last summer. That is the rubber boat. 120

to 150 people usually fit in there. But we
also encountered boats with 180 people in

them. These conditions like these boats
and the long distance and these not

seaworthy boats of course make this route
the most dangerous route in the world. So

the most people trying to cross borders
are dying in the Mediterranean. You see

the statistics, they are from the Missing
Migrants Project. They only collect the

data off the known deaths. These are no
absolute numbers, it's just a relation. So

the big dark blue part is the relation of
the people dying in the Mediterranean

related to the rest of the world. So I
think you all see that the Mediterranean

is really really a dangerous route to
take. But still people are forced to take,

to use this route because Europe and their
allies are basically closing off the

shorter and safer routes. So the
international law states a duty to rescue

people in distress. We always have acted
and complied with these laws of the sea

and these international laws and we are
fulfilling a duty that usually is up to

the European Union but they are not
willing to do that. So the NGOs had to

step in to rescue these people. So the
region we are operating in ...

applause
Thanks. The region we are operating in is

also regulated by international laws. You
have Libya there of course the Libyan law

applies as well as in the C Zone on up to
the 12 mile line, which is the red line

you see there. This is also Libyan
territorial waters. And from the 12th mile

on it's basically international waters. We
have the so-called contiguous zone up to

24 miles, where the Libyan authorities
have certain law enforcement rights, but

it still is international waters. So the
blue shape you see is the Search and

Rescue Area where we find most of the
boats. And that is basically where we

operate up to the 12 mile line, we don't
cross the 12 mile line usually. So to be

able to conduct effective operations we
need of course to buy a ship, because

without a ship you cannot go there. So the
Iuventa was bought and the Iuventa was

sent to the area where most boats get in
distress. That means we are doing

proactive search and rescue. Proactive in
this case means we go there before boats

get in distress and actively search for
them. That is because ships move slowly so

we cannot wait on Malta until ships get in
distress, until boats get in distress

because it would take us 24 hours to get
there. So for us it is important to be

there when the people depart from shore,
because these boats you saw the pictures

on the slides before they are immediately
a distress case, as soon as they are in

the open sea, there's no discussion about
that. As soon as one of these overcrowded

boats is in the open sea they are a
distress case. They don't have to sink to

be a distress case. So we need to go there
before they depart to be able to help

immediately. The Iuventa is a very small
ship, you can see that it's only 33 metres

long. There's not much people fitting on
there and for transfer, it usually can

take only the crew. So we act as a first
response unit. When we find the boats in

distress, we secure them with life jackets
and life rafts. So we supply lifejackets

to the people on the boat and, if
necessary, bring out life rafts and

evacuate people on the life rafts. And
then call for bigger ships that transfer

them to Italy. You can see one of the
bigger ships here. It's the Vost Prudence.

It was used by MSF, it was chartered
basically, and this is a way bigger ship

and it can take way more people and it can
bring them safely to Italy. So these

transfers to these big ships we always do
in close cooperation with the Maritime

Rescue Coordination Center in Rome, the
so-called MRCC. The MRCC is responsible

for distress cases in that area. They
are there to coordinate the rescue

operations and they are always ordering
the transfer of the migrants. So whenever

we transported migrants to one of these
big ships, the MRCC ordered us to do so,

we never did that on our own. But you have
to keep in mind: The MRCC is not an agency

that is acting independently. It basically
is a subordinate of the Interior Ministry

in Italy, so it is bound by instructions
to the Interior Ministry. You have to keep

that in mind for later when Kathrin is
telling you something. As I already said:

The Iuventa is not suited to transport
people to a place of safety. It is only

there to secure them. That was always
clearly communicated with the MRCC and we

always acted as a first responder, and
secured the situation. That was our job.

That is what we are good at. So this is
how we operated from the beginning, and

this is how we operated on another NGO
vessel I've been in 2016, the Minden. It

was the same case: We were there as a
first responder, we secured the people,

transferred them to bigger vessels, they
then brought them to Italy. This is also

how all the other NGOs working there
worked, like CI Sea-Watch, MSF, Safe the

Children, Moas Mission, Lifeline, and all
the other NGOs working there. We're not

alone there. And it was a successful,
proven concept. So just to tell it once

more: The concept is we have smaller
boats, staying there, securing the people,

and once they are secured we call for
bigger ships, call for help, transfer them

to these bigger ships, and they then bring
them to a place of safety, which usually

is Italy. But in May 2017 suddenly some
things started to change for the Iuventa.

Kathrin: One thing I may want to emphasize
again is that everything we did was always

under the coordination of the Rescue
Coordination Center in Rome in Italy and

up until then we really had a good working
relationship with them. We were conducting

successful and very efficient search
operations, rescue operations. Maybe a

little bit too efficient. So we can say a
chain of unusual events started in May

this year. And one situation I want to
talk about now is when we received

distress calls over the radio about
numerous migrant boats in distress in an

area we were in. And the other ships in
vicinity who had found those boats, they

called us and asked for our assistance to
rescue these people, and up until that not

an unusual situation. However all of a
sudden we were requested by the MRCC, the

coordination center in Rome, to withdraw
to leave the Search and Rescue Zone

immediately and to go to Lampedusa. So to
make that clear: We were ordered to ignore

distress calls of people at imminent, who
were at imminent threat of their life and

go away. This has never happened before
until then. So as you can imagine we were

torn back and forth whether we should
actually do that, or not. We were somewhat

obliged to follow their instructions but
it did mean obviously that we had to leave

people on these boats in distress behind.
And I can remember the persistent efforts

that we were trying to make, and also
others were trying to make, to keep the

Iuventa in the SAR Zone for that, for that
situation. However, it did not work out,

they continued insisting. And finally we
had to give in, and proceed to Lampedusa.

Unfortunately, later we learned that those
two days when the Iuventa was absent,

which turned into one of the most busiest
rescue periods we had seen in 2017. Many

hundred people lost their lives and the
remaining capacities in the SAR Zone were

just way beyond their capacities. So this
very procedure continued twice: Once more

in May, and another time in June. And
again: Back then we were absolutely in the

dark as to what could possibly be the
motivation behind such instructions and we

realized something had changed, the good
working relationship with the MRCC for

some reason wasn't that good anymore. But
we did not understand what was going on,

why are they behaving like that. And I
mean we have to realise that: This is an

authority whose duty it is to coordinate
rescues at sea, and to save people's lives

at sea. And they are withdrawing and
actively reducing Search and Rescue ships

from where and when they're needed most.
We were utterly astonished, not to say,

speechless. And we could imagine various
scenarios until then. Of course we were

quite aware that the situation they were
dealing with is really, I mean, not easy

to deal with. So we were a lot of the
times putting it down to "Hey, okay,

they're probably really overwhelmed with
dealing all these increasingly complicated

rescues in the Mediterranean, and
eventually that leading to really poor

decision making". However such incidents
kept occuring. And at the end of July the

Italian coast guard transferred 2 migrants
on board of the Iuventa. And they had

found them in a really small rubber boat.
They had left from Tripoli and they

requested us to take them on board. So
again that was a rather unusual event,

never happened before, as we learned from
Hendrik before. The boats are usually a

little bit bigger than three metres and
there are usually a few more people than

two on there. Yet, you know, what if
what's happening out there is actually

normal. So yes we took those 2 people on
board and we accommodated our guests for

two days before we actually got any
instructions as to how to continue, and we

were kind of almost expecting that we had
to proceed to Lampedusa with our two

guests. So under way to Lampedusa,
approximately half way, we received

another distress call from Rome, about a
boat that had apparently left in Tunesia

in the early morning. And what was really
interesting that day was that they gave us

super precise instructions as to how to
perform a search pattern. A search pattern

is like the organized way of performing a
search at sea with the coordinates and

distances to speeds you go, so they were
in total control of what we did and how we

did it, and they were making sure
continuously that we are following their

plan. Something never happened before
because usually they were really not

interested in how we performed the search,
as long as we found the boats, obviously.

While they were making us perform a search
pattern that would have taken us three

days to complete, the way they ordered us
to do it, they neither gave us an official

distress notification, nor an official
search and rescue case number, both of

which would be the usual procedure. And
probably worth by adding is that also the

Iuventa was the only ship involved in that
search that day, all the other ships were

just not a few between Tunisia and
Lampedusa had not been, obviously, not

been informed. Another private rescue ship
that was, that happened to be in the area

was initially declined by the MRCC to
support us. But then I kept insisting like

I said: "We cannot possibly do this on our
own". And so eventually they allowed them

to join into the search. Very interesting
also is that we requested the support of a

surveillance plane, of a private
surveillance plane by Sea-Watch, the Moon

Bird, and it was completely rejected and
declined from morning till evening that

day. So Moon Bird never left the ground in
Malta that day. And yet believe it or not:

We were still not fully convinced that the
MRCC's decisions are actually really

solely driven by the interests of the
Ministry of Interior in Italy.

We were still somewhat in denial, thinking
that, you know, something like law

enforcement would be beyond their scope,
really. And so our paranoia level had

simply just not, could not grasp yet the
dimension of where this would take us.

Until the very moment when we reached
Italian territorial waters close to

Lampedusa, and 4 Coast Guard ships
escorted us with blue lights into the

harbor of Lampedusa. And the Iuventa was
searched and seized on August 2nd. So,

slowly it was dribbling, all these events
beforehand started to make sense, fell

into place. And in fact, there are a lot
of facts now, in hindsight that were, you

know, we can, that we can put in order,
and we know that the warrants for the

search, as well as for the seizure, had
both been signed one day before we

actually came to Lampedusa. And also the
complete confiscation order of the Iuventa

had been leaked to the media in advance so
they could they could be there, they could

receive us in the middle of the night.
They were waiting for us at the peer, the

Italian press. And, you know, then you
think: "Okay, that search pattern we did.

What was that about? Were they buying time
to fly in all these police officers that

ended up on our ship?" But one thing we
know for sure now is that the scenario I

talked about before when they withdrew the
Iuventa from distress calls that day in

May, there was actually a price they
accepted to pay to install a bug on the

bridge of the Iuventa that day. Also when
they continuously ordered the Iuventa back

to Lampedusa, I mean, now that kind of
starts making sense as well if you

consider that the capacity of a SD card
may not be that big over such a long time.

Roundabout the same time when the bug was
installed on the bridge of the Iuventa

there were also 2..., there was also 1
undercover cop placed on another private

rescue ship and he later produced forged
evidence to incriminate the crew of the

Iuventa. So in fact, the investigation, we
then learned, of the Iuventa crew by the

Italian authorities was started as early
as September 2016 last year when two

security officers on board of another
vessel, they were both former cops, had

proactively informed not only special
police forces dealing with organized crime

in Sicily, but also the Italian foreign
intelligence service and a politician of

the Lega Nord in Italy, and although their
testimonies were somewhat contradictory

and they were reporting strange behavior
of the Iuventa, they actually did prompt a

large scale investigation. So the
accusations that are meant to justify the

seizure of the ship include: Facilitation
of illegal immigration, Collusion with

human traffickers, and possession of
firearms. However, until this day, there

are no criminal charges against any
individual crewmembers, nor against the

organization, which I guess works in their
favor as well because they have reached

what they wanted, they bought time, they
have one ship less in the Search and

Rescue area at the moment. And the moment
they actually get a trial they start

having to produce real evidence, which may
be trouble for them. So the seizure of the

Iuventa they called a so-called
'Preventive Measure', and that was only

enabled by Anti-Mafia laws, which by the
way were also used against..., for similar

cases like the Capandamur in 2005 and
Tunisian fishers in 2007, both of which

cases the charges had to be dropped after
some years. Still the damage was done. So

we have of course appealed the seizure, in
the meantime, at the court in Trapani,

but, as we expected, that was rejected and
has been taken to the next level at the

Supreme Court in Rome. And yeah, we are
now waiting for them to decide whether

actually the seizure of the Iuventa was
legal or not.

Hendrik: What we had to learn in the
aftermath was that the seizure of the

Iuventa was only a small part in a way
bigger political fight. What the EU

actually wants to do is they want to shut
down the central Mediterranean route at

all costs, and what they also want to
prevent is pictures of drowning people.

And instead of sending ships there to
rescue these people, what they want to do

is they want to get rid of the witnesses
that document how the people drown and

actually save them. So they are trying to
stop the NGOs from working there.

applause
boo

So what we learned is that the fight for
the Iuventa we are fighting at the moment

is not a legal fight but a political
fight, and we are waging that fight

together with a lot of other NGO that are
active there in the central Mediterranean.

So for us of course the seizure of the
Iuventa was a drawback. We don't have a

ship anymore which with which we can
operate. But still you can see also with

constant pressure, sometimes there are
positive surprises. For example in

December the United Nations made an
evacuation flight for migrants from Libya

directly to Europe. And that of course was
only possible because of the constant

media work a lot of NGOs did so that the
European Union had to react and allow

that. So what this also shows us is that
with patience and continuous struggle it

still is possible to drill small holes
into the walls of Fortress Europe.

Kathrin: Continue that fight! Thank you.
Hendrik: Thanks.

applause
cheer

Herald Angel: Breathtaking. Thank you so
much. So, do we have questions? We have

some microphones in the Saal, so you can
just go there, and place yourself. Okay, I

think I will start with number 6.
Microphone No. 6: Yes, hello, thank you

for the good work. You mentioned a charge
of firearms on the ship. Were there any?

Kathrin: Good question. No, they have not
found any evidence at all during the

search, and we also later learned that
they had to include this section into the

accusation to actually justify the seizure
at all, because those are the two

accusations whould've not been strong
enough to justify the seizure.

Herald Angel: Okay, microphone 1 please.
Microphone 1: Thank for the talk. 3 quick

questions: How much did the Iuventa cost?
How much would it cost to buy a new ship?

And is this feasible?
laughter

Hendrik: I actually have no idea much that
ship cost, do you know that?

Kathrin: I roughly know how much a ship in
that size would cost now, at a similar

age. We are probably looking at between
180.000 to 250.000 Euro. And feasible or

not, from an economic point of view
probably doable, yes, I mean, people have

done it before, and it's probably possible
to do it again. From a political point of

view it's certainly debateable whether...,
how to proceed and what the right action

is at this point.
Herald Angel: Okay, we have a Signal, we

have a question from the Internet, please.
Signal Angel: Is what happened to your

ship unique, or are there other ships that
have been seized?

Kathrin: Can... I didn't understand the
question.

Hendrik: Actually it's... The seizure is
unique but there have been other ships

that have been searched by the cops like
from Save the Children and MSF.

Herald Angel: Okay, number 1 please.
Kathrin: Something to the answer of that

question: We... In our file we certainly
also know that while they are

investigating against the Iuventa crew,
they have tapped phones of numberous

people that also work for all the other
NGOs, mainly in Italy, so we know that

this is going over and beyond what
happened to us, but we were just a, like a

digestible bite, to put it that way.
Herald Angel: What a bite. Okay, number 1

please.
Microphone 1: Let's say I've got a half a

year of free time on hand... where do I
sign up?

laughter
applause

Hendrik: Sounds great, I can invite you to
come to the assembly afterwards. We have

an "Just humans" assembly in hall 2 where
a lot of these NGOs I mentioned in the

talk actually are, so just come and talk
to us, and find us there.

Herald Angel: Okay, one last question, I
hope it's a short question because we just

got 2 more minutes.
Microphone: Thanks for the talk, and

thanks for the work you do. One question:
The bug, was it actually legal? Was it a

legal operation that they did that? And
how do you know that there is a bug, that

there have been a bug?
Kathrin: We know that there is a bug

because that was a... it's part of the
investigation file that we were handed

over, part of the 500 pages investigation
file. We know the exact date and time,

when the bug has been installed, and
roundabout where, namely on the bridge of

the Iuventa. Whether or not that action
was legal, because we are looking at

Italien authorities, planting a bug on a
ship under Dutch flag, bugging people in

interational waters, mostly from German
decent. Until today we have not got a

clear answer to that question, we are
still asking a number of lawyers around

Europe and it's probably a situation that
doesn't happen too often. Also you're

warmly invited to come around to our
assembly and we can talk about that a

little bit more, because that's one of the
most interesting and pressing questions we

have as well.
Herald Angel: Okay. So, like the two said:

Assembly Hall 2, Just Humans, is the space
where you can meet them, where you can ask

more questions. And thank you once again!
applause cheer

Kathrin: Thanks for having us!
applause continues

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