Carola Rackete, captain of Sea Watch 3 and Pia Klemp, captain of Iuventa, both accused in Italy of aiding illegal immigration, will receive the Grand Vermeil Medal, the highest distinction of the city of Paris. The City Council of the French capital, led by Mayor Anna Hidalgo, has also allocated 100,000 euros to Sos Mediterranée for a new mission to rescue immigrants at sea.
The communiqué of the City Council recalls the 17,000 dead and missing in the Mediterranean since 2014 and reiterates “its full support to the women and men who work daily to save migrants at sea in difficult conditions.
“Associations such as SOS Méditerranée and Sea Watch give us credit and force us to act against the inertia of governments,” the press release continues. “Carola Rackete and Pia Klemp are the emblems of this struggle and of the European values to which the city of Paris once again urges to remain faithful.”
Translated from Spanish by Pressenza London
