President of German Evangelical Church highlights plight of refugee children while in Malta

Tuesday, 17 July 2018, 20:15 Last update: about 7 years ago

Manfred Rekowski, the President of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, highlighted the difficult circumstances child refugees face in crossing the Mediterranean Sea, calling on governments not to violate international law and seek joint solutions, at a meeting at the Child Migrant monument on the Valletta Waterfront.

Rekowski, who is also the migration expert for the German Evangelical Church, called on authorities to allow NGO vessels free passage out of ports and to allow the 'Moonbird' spotter plane to conduct is rescue operations.

The NGO Sea Watch said early in July that the civil search aircraft Moonbird had been blocked by Malta, thus preventing further search and rescue operations.

Earlier, Rekowski visited the graves of the 24 refugees who died at sea and were buried at the Addolorata Cemetery in 2015.

"The children who have boarded a ship to find a supposed better future at the other side of the sea, at the shores of another continent. So many of them alone and far too small to be alone! And therefore in desperate need of adults who would take care of them, who would protect them and comfort them when the child's fear becomes overwhelming."

He said that children should have the hope that "when home is without any perspective, when home is that terrible and destructive, then there will be another place on this earth for me to grow up in peace.

"There will be another home for me without killings and bombs. This world is so big, it will have also space and food for me."

"It is as simple as this: when they are endangered on their way we have to save the children, together with their families. We have to get them out of the water and rescue them from drowning and together seek solutions to live on. This is not only required by international law. This is what is meant by being human and being a child of God. "

"We are here with you to ensure you and the public that we will continue to stand in for humanity and will bear witness in our time, as Christians who in Jesus Christ recognize the needy, the refugee, the fellow human being. "