MSF coordinator Sebastian Stein during a rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea, involving a boat containing 140 people, including 38 women and 18 children.

Sebastian said: “Today’s rescue is a clear example of the tremendous risks that people who are fleeing have to take as there are no safe and legal ways to seek protection. We rescued 18 small children from a partly deflated and over-crowded inflatable boat north of Libya. 

In desperation, mothers and fathers flung their children onto our small rescue boat, allowing themselves to be separated from their dearest, blindly trusting us, complete strangers, as we shuttled them to our large rescue vessel. It is heartbreaking to see that families with children only a few months old find themselves in such horrible situations.”

Restrictive migration policies are placing the right to asylum at risk. Today more than ever refugees around the world need our protection and assistance. Don’t let this be the ‪#‎lastrefugeeday.

Photo by: Sara Creta