The Socialists & Democrats Group have decided to nominate 11 criminal NGOs to the Sakharov prize, alongside a series of other people.
Artículo disponible en Español | Article disponible en Français
The Sakharov prize is, as mentioned, a prize awarded once a year by the European Parliament to individuals who have contributed to the fight for human rights across the world. It is named after Russian physicist Andrei Sakharov.
This year, the “Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament” have decided to nominate 11 NGOs who are dedicated to smuggling refugees across the Mediterranean Sea. Other nominees for this year’s Sakharov prize include Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, Dewayne Johnson, who won a trial against Monsanto, and others, such as an anti-abortion activist sentenced to prison for disturbing the activity of an abortion clinic.
The NGOs nominated to the Sakharov prize are the following: Proactiva Open Arms, SOS Mediterranée, Médecins Sans Frontières International, Sea-Watch, Sea Eye, Jugend Rettet, Lifeline, MOAS, Save the Children, PROEM-AID and Boat Refugee Foundation.
The finalists have already been selected, with the winner being announced at the end of October. The 3 finalists are the 11 NGOs, the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and the Moroccan political activist Nasser Zefzafi.
Nominating these 11 NGOs was clearly a political move to push back against the current political climate of tension between pro and against refugees. Some people, such as Salvini and the current Italian government, are treating these NGOs as “criminal”, with these NGOs defending themselves claiming that “saving lives is not criminal” and pressuring Europeans to keep saving immigrants from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.
The issue here is that yes, these NGOs are, in fact, criminal. Savings lives in itself is not a bad thing, on the contrary, we, as a society with Christian roots, must help other humans. But not push them to take very high risks to come to the “promised land”. Not only is Europe not the promised land, with more and more tensions between local Europeans and non-European immigrants, but we Europeans are already struggling to help our own poor people. For pushing, yes, these NGOs push immigrants to take very high risks to come to Europe, by using poorly made rafts that will barely resists a few kilometres in the high sea, due to these NGOs giving them the assurance they’ll be saved rather quickly. That is what has been happening for years now, with NGOs and their boats located close to the Libyan (and other, North African coasts), so close in fact that one could wonder, why are they so close? This assurance of being saved pushes more and more immigrants to try their luck, paying thousands of euros to the smugglers for a chance.
There have also been instances of NGOs cooperating with these smugglers. These NGOs claim they did it with a humanitarian point of view, but regardless, agreeing with human traffickers on a rendezvous point to “rescue” immigrants who were not in distress is a new low for “solidarity”. An example of this disgusting collusion between human traffickers and NGOs is the sad case of the “Iuventa”, a ship from the NGO “Jugend Rettet” (one of the 11 NGOs nominated to the Sakharov prize), which was seized in 2017 by Italian authorities and followed by investigations. The NGO and some of their members are currently facing trials and up to 15 years of prison.
Finally, this constant bashing of Europeans in general, this constant reminding from a small select few that “all” human lives are important and how “we” should be more “tolerant” and welcome thousands of these people, this constant blackmailing of “If we do not help them, Europeans will have blood on their hands”, “Look at all those poor children drowning in the Mediterranean”, “The Mediterranean has become a graveyard” and 1 000 other emotionally manipulate excuses, are starting to tire some of us.
No, we Europeans do not have any blood on our hands for this specific matter. Those with the most bloodened hands in this entire affair are the 11 NGOs nominated to the Sakharov prize, having pushed thousands of humans to risk their lives for a better future that they will not find here. It is utterly shameless to continue pushing this policy, to push the blame on others, while THEY are the ONLY ones to blame-nobody else is at fault.
It seems that these days, in order to have a prize for human rights, one does not need to preach about human rights, but have their hands covered in blood and carry the weight of thousands of dead, just as the Pale Rider.
More on this subject:
