Sea Watch

Sea-Watch e.V. is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that has been dedicated to the civil sea rescue of people fleeing in the Mediterranean since its founding in May 2015. Founded by Harald Höppner and a group of committed volunteers, Sea-Watch responds to the humanitarian crisis at the external borders of the European Union.

The main mission of Sea-Watch is to rescue people in distress at sea and thereby prevent the thousands of deaths of refugees at the EU's external borders. The organization advocates for safe and legal entry routes into the EU and calls for institutionalized, international sea rescue with a clear mandate. Sea-Watch is politically and religiously independent and is funded solely by donations[2][4].

• Sea Rescue: Sea-Watch operates rescue ships such as the Sea-Watch 3 and the former Sea-Watch 4 (now Humanity 1) to rescue people in need in the Mediterranean. Since the first mission, they have saved over 45,000 lives[3][4].
• Aerial Surveillance: With the reconnaissance aircraft Moobird, Sea-Watch searches for refugee boats in distress and documents human rights violations[3][4].
• Political Advocacy: The organization politically advocates for the respect of human rights and for safe entry routes. It calls for a political response to the deaths in the Mediterranean and stands for an open Europe[2][3].

Sea-Watch pursues several sustainability goals:

• Human Rights: The organization advocates for the global implementation of human rights and works for social progress, better living conditions, freedom, justice, and peace[2].
• Knowledge Dissemination: Sea-Watch informs the public about the situation in the Mediterranean, documents events, and works investigatively to uncover and prevent human rights violations[2][3].
• Helping People: The organization provides support in emergency situations and works to ensure that rescued individuals can live in a dignified environment again[2].

Sea-Watch has a structured organization with various departments, including ship management, political advocacy, media, and legal teams. Funding is secured by an 11-member fundraising team and a finance department, supported by over 21,000 supporting members and major funding partners such as the Deutsche Postcode Lotterie and the Evangelical Church in Germany[3].

With a team of 132 permanent employees and over 750 volunteer supporters, Sea-Watch works daily to uphold human rights at the EU's external borders and remains an important actor in civil sea rescue in the Mediterranean.

• 1 - https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea-Watch
• 2 - https://goodjobs.eu/company/sea-watch-e-v-b7effbc0-cb32-4941-ace8-8ff1d30f8aaf
• 3 - https://www.gls-crowd.de/projekte/seawatch-in-ein-neues-schiff-zur-seenotrettung-investieren/
• 4 - https://sea-watch.org/en/about/
• 5 - https://sea-watch.org/en/