Frontex dossier opens the contacts of non-governmental organizations with smugglers. However, to shed light on those who Finance these operations, is almost impossible. MOAS: “you need to obtain the consent of the donors”.
Non-governmental organizations operating in the Mediterranean sea, 90% of the episodes of salvation directly control the ships transporting migrants, even before the request for assistance, to negotiate with the coast guard, and they are activated through the migrants themselves.
Satellite phones are issued to illegal traffickers, contain the numbers of the ships coming to help. We’re talking about conditions that have become known from investigations on these transporters. According to the newspaper Corriere della Sera, that these are allegations contained in a dossier Frontex, in respect of which an investigation under the direction of the Prosecutor of Catania Carmelo, Zuccaro (Carmelo Zuccaro).
To these charges, non-governmental organizations have often responded, dismissing them as “defamatory” and saying that their “only goal is to save human lives.” The report of the European Agency, however, indicates that as many as eight vessels which lead this “game” with the smugglers and those NGOs to which they belong. Among those listed in the ship Phoenix, owned by “Station to assist migrants at sea” (MOAS). It was in Belize and can carry up to 400 migrants. But who is behind the acronym MOAS? “We are a humanitarian organization. This defamatory campaign is not going in our favor,” — said recently Catrambone Regina (Regina Catrambone), Director of the organization and wife of Christopher (Christopher Catrambone). This pair owns a real fleet: in addition to Phoenix, in the Mediterranean they have Topaz Responder, several rigid-hull inflatable boats and drones.
“We were the first civil society organization which was engaged in research and assistance. We have worked with only “Mare Nostrum”. We started to collect funding from backers around the world. The first operation we conducted in may 2014, the second in may 2015, we rescued 14 thousand people. Christina Ramm-Ericson (Christina Ramm-Ericsson), the management organization of the MOAS, assures that the only partners with whom they worked were Doctors without borders, Emergency, Italian Red cross and the international Red cross. And no one else. “We always comply with transparency, acted sincerely, and showed willingness to cooperate with organizations and our partners. We have always filed all the necessary documents to officials and authorities, and now we hope that attention will again be drawn to the ongoing crisis,” she says. Today on the Italian coast, there are 35 thousand immigrants, most of whom came here illegally.
In addition to the suspicion of alleged links with people involved in the illegal transportation of migrants in Libya, the organization of the MOAS has always been distinguished by the opaque funding. Even now, during the trial the investigation of the functioning of the management of the migration phenomenon in the Schengen area, the organization was limited to the statement that it is funded by “private sources, companies, grants, organizations and campaigns on crowdfunding”. Only in 2016, the company received 6 million euros. “Our partnership has ended, so now there is not one existing. Before you publish a list of donors, I have to get their permission,” says Ramm-Ericson. In reality, as our newspaper already wrote Giuseppe De Lorenzo (Giuseppe De Lorenzo), some names have become known. From the company Avaaz.org related Moveon.org led by a millionaire “philanthropist” George Soros, the organization received at least, 500 thousand euros. And one more thing: among the most close employees Catrambone Christopher (Christopher Catrambone) is Yang Roger (Ian Ruggier), the former Maltese officer, famous for the brutal suppression of the protests by the migrants taking refuge on the island of Malta. In short, open knowledge is not enough. Everything else is covered with darkness.
