Who Will Defend the Defenders?
#FreeSarahandSean

Remember Alan Kurdi? Three years ago, his lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach. He was only three years old.
His story would have ended there — like it did for 5,350 other refugees who were committed prematurely to the deep that year — except for the work of a Turkish photographer, Nilüfer Demir. By chance or by fate, Demir came upon the beach, which she hauntingly described as a “children’s graveyard.” As she tells it, there was nothing that could be done for the little boy, so she raised her camera and clicked the shutter button.
The image is devastating. Alan is face down in the sand, knees tucked, palms open and upturned. His shirt is pulled up. He’s still wearing his blue shorts and his tiny sneakers. You can’t help but think of the harried hands that must have dressed him only hours earlier. The owner of those hands drowned too, by the way.
From far away, it looks like he could be sleeping. He’s not.
Alan’s death became a symbol, as Khaled Hossaini later wrote, “not only for the brutality of the Syrian war, but for the unfathomable despair that still corners families into crossing the very same waters that swallowed him and spat him out.” Count on Hossaini to capture the essence of an unspeakable moment in a single sentence.
Hossaini is spot-on when he writes that the photo “pricked the conscience of millions.” It did more than that, though. It stirred people of the world to feel as one. For many, it became a call to action — a harsh warning that we could no longer afford to stand by and do nothing. The blood was on all our hands.
Just imagine it, if you can. 1.8 million refugees have arrived in Europe since 2014. 37,034 have arrived so far this year. Since 1993, roughly the same number have died trying to reach safety. While the number of migrants entering Europe has declined steadily over the past few years, the number dying in the process is growing. This is a crisis in no uncertain terms.
Let’s be clear: the most effective thing anyone can do to resolve the refugee crisis is for the EU to reform its existing legislation and enact a comprehensive asylum and immigration policy. But that doesn’t happen overnight, and turning a blind eye to those drowning in the meantime hardly seems like an appropriate response. In fact, that would be illegal — under international law, any boat within reach of another in distress has an obligation to help, regardless of that boat’s flag or where it is sinking. Failure to do so is a crime of omission.
And so I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than the brave few who left their homes and loved ones to help. Who were they? In short, they were the very best of us — veterans, firefighters, doctors, lifeguards, psychiatrists, translators, and even students. They came together from every corner of the world — showing once and for all that no country lacks for heroes. And they put whatever talents they had to use performing search and rescue, providing medical care, or educating and caring for children.
Last week, three of those volunteers were arrested in Greece. The arrests bring back memories of three firefighters who were charged with human trafficking back in 2016 for helping drowning migrants. The court saw it differently and acquitted the rescue workers of all charges — but it took 28 months to get there.
One of the volunteers now facing charges is none other than Sarah Mardini. You might remember her as the Syrian refugee who almost drowned back in 2015 after she boarded a dinghy on the Turkish coast along with 20 others — three times more people than it was designed to carry. As the boat started to sink, Sara and her sister Yusra jumped into the frigid sea and dragged the small vessel for more than three hours to Lesvos. Everyone survived, thanks to them. Her sister went on to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil while Sara received a scholarship to study economics and social sciences at Bard College in Berlin.
The other two are equally praiseworthy. Seán Binder is a student who dedicated months of his life to helping those less fortunate. The other was shortlisted for the International Maritime Rescue Federation H.E.R.O. award for his contributions saving lives in the Aegean Sea.
The term “hero” actually comes from the ancient Greeks. For them, a hero was a mortal who had done something so far beyond the normal scope of human experience that he left an immortal memory behind him when he died. Many of the first heroes were great benefactors of mankind: like Hercules, the monster killer or Asclepius, the first doctor. Can you think of a better title for these three volunteers? I can’t. If Alan Kurdi made the world feel as one, their sacrifices bind us tighter still.
Learn more here: https://www.freehumanitarians.com/