LLM student Pat Rubio Bertran has co-authored an article for the University of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy, and Society (COMPAS) about humanitarian search and rescue in the Aegean Sea.
Humanitarian Search and Rescue in the Aegean Sea: Stuck Between Two Crises
From January to April 2020, over 8,000 refugees have reached Greece by sea, and at least 66 people have died or remain missing in the Aegean. Those figures showcase how humanitarian search and rescue remains vital in the Eastern Mediterranean route. However, 2020 has erected more complex barriers than ever before to assist any distress at sea. As humanitarians working in the only professional search and rescue NGO in Greece, working off the island of Lesvos, Jude Bennett and Pat Rubio Bertran affirm that, beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, the criminalisation efforts towards rescuers and the current EU migration policies are the main barriers to saving lives at sea.
Pat is the Program Lead at Refugee Rescue. She leads the implementation and overview of the strategy, relationships with donors and partners, as well as the staff. Prior to joining Refugee Rescue, Pat worked with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Iraq and Jordan, advocating for issues such as access to education, housing and documentation for refugee and displaced populations, while being an active advocate for safe passage in the Mediterranean. Pat is currently an LLM Candidate in Human Rights Law at the Brussels School of International Studies, specialising in legal research and advocacy related to safe and legal passage in the Mediterranean, border externalisation policies and refugee law.