Mr. Sam Taylor:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee. I am the director of Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF, in Ireland. I am joined by Ms Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, who is a humanitarian affairs adviser on migration. I thank the committee for affording MSF this timely opportunity to share an update on our lifesaving work in the central Mediterranean Sea and on the ground in Libya.

Médecins Sans Frontières is in an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. Our teams offer assistance to people based solely on need, irrespective of religion, gender or political affiliation, and our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of neutrality and impartiality. Simply put, we go where we are needed, regardless of who and where our patients may be.

To put this into perspective, we currently have around 40,000 staff working in more than 70 countries worldwide. Importantly, more than 95% of our funding comes from private individuals, including some in Ireland, which means we are financially independent from state power, religious groups and multilateral organisations.

As has been seen in this committee previously, Irish medical staff are providing life-saving care to communities caught up in some of the world's most severe humanitarian crises. The Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen are just a few of the places where field workers from Ireland are working.

MSF also provides medical care to refugees, migrants and asylum seekers around the world. Wars, persecution, conflict and poverty are pushing record numbers of people from their homes. The United Nations estimates there are 68.5 million displaced people worldwide and today, with 85% of displaced people hosted in developing countries, looking after people on the move is a necessity worldwide and not something that is only relevant in Europe.

We appear before the committee today following what was the deadliest seven-day period so far this year, during which at least 200 people lost their lives, 170 of whom died since last Friday when European leaders agreed to blame search and rescue missions and non-governmental organisations, NGOs, and obstruct their work. This is a critical time for people embarking on these crossings but NGO search and rescue is being blocked and demonised by European governments.

We commend the Taoiseach's offer to welcome 25 vulnerable people from the humanitarian search and rescue ship, MV Lifeline,which was turned away from a number of European ports last week. It is a truly humanitarian gesture which sends out a positive message when Europe is in dire need of such acts of solidarity and compassion. Speaking at the conclusion of the EU summit last Friday, An Taoiseach quite rightly made the comment that this "is not so much a migrant crisis as it is a political crisis." Unfortunately, however, he also made some more unhelpful comments about NGOs saving lives at sea, saying that some were not up to much good in the Mediterranean. These were unfair comments. NGOs engaged in search and rescue have saved tens of thousands of lives in the past three years. In Europe it is becoming popular to seek scapegoats, rather than acknowledging Europe's failure to respond to migration in a way in keeping with Europe's stated values of solidarity and humanity. NGOs have provided the only dedicated search and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean as European policies support efforts by the Libyan coast guard to intercept and return people to Libya. Demonising NGOs or the refugees and migrants they assist will not help this situation. Search and rescue is a response to, and not the cause of, the crisis.

We note that Ireland is using its strong identity as a neutral, humanitarian player on the world stage to pitch for a non-permanent member status on the UN Security Council. It is important to exercise this same consistency of voice and approach on behalf of the people attempting to flee violence and abuse in Libya, especially in a moment when the politics of populism threatens to take away the human element of the response to migration. It is crucial that we put the lives of the men, women and children we assist every day at sea above politics.

MSF appeared before the committee one year ago, before the decision was made to end the humanitarian Operation Pontus. The men and women of the Irish Naval Service have shown great professionalism and compassion saving lives as part of Operation Sophia. It should be noted, however, that a main focus of that mission is to support the Libyan coast guard’s efforts to intercept migrant dinghies and boats leaving the shore and return them to Libya, where many face horrific treatment and abuse. European migration strategy prioritises preventing people from reaching our shores above the lives of people. The aim is to keep human suffering out of sight and out of mind for the European public.

We again thank members for giving us an opportunity to address the committee today. I hand over to Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, humanitarian affairs adviser on migration with MSF.