Episode 1: Observing refugee human rights violations from the sky

In today's show we talk with Felix, a spokesperson for Sea Watch — one of the NGOs operating in the Mediterranean. Felix tells us about Sea Watch, it's ships (the Sea Watch 3 and 4) and it reconnaissance planes (Moonbird and Seabird). We also speak about the events of two weekends ago, when the Moonbird's crew saw a merchant ship attempt to return refugees back to Libya — an act which would have been a violation of international law. --- Show notes --- Thanks for listening to this first episode of The Civil Fleet, a podcast by civilfleet.com that focuses on the NGO refugee rescuers in the central Mediterranean and beyond Here's a glossary of some of the terms used in this episode: bit.ly/3kGhkt0 Want to know more about the EU's deal with the Libyan Coastguard? See here: bit.ly/384YWEO and here: bit.ly/3bd1ZNv For more on Alarm Phone, see here: bit.ly/3sBL5xy Here's the interview with Tamino Bohm, head of Sea Watch's airborne operations: bit.ly/3c8RsCf Here's the story about the 40-day stand-off Malta put 27 refugees through who were stuck on the Etienne: bit.ly/3uK2Oox Here's the story on the time Frontex did help an NGO rescue ship find refugees in distress at sea: bit.ly/3b8A9lp