In April 2019, the Geneva Centre organized a panel discussion as a book-launch event for its publication “The Unprecedented Rise of People on the Move in the 21st Century”. The panel included experts in the field of migration, journalists who accompanied rescue operations in the Mediterranean and an operative in aerial reconnaissance missions to support these. The present brochure contains a summary of the rich and moving presentations and discussions that took place during the panel event, with vivid, first-hand accounts of experiences and difficulties encountered in rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
The panellists provided poignant accounts of the sufferings and dashed hopes of people desperately trying to flee to what they view as safety but very often doomed in what has become the world’s largest liquid graveyard. The panel presentations and the ensuing, lively discussions underlined the vital importance of shared responsibility and dialogue to address root causes of this crisis, to facilitate rescue operations, and recalled the urgent need for States to respect their international obligations under human rights and maritime law.
The borchure can be downloaded below:
Year of publication: May 2019