We are delighted that SOS MEDITERRANEE has been accepted as the first new project into the newly established Moving Child Foundation. SOS MEDITERRANEE is a European humanitarian organization dedicated to sea rescue in the Central Mediterranean. SOS MEDITERRANEE was founded in 2015 in Germany and France as a civil society response to the deaths in the Mediterranean and the European Union’s failure to prevent them. Today, SOS MEDITERRANEE operates as a European network with teams in France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany.

With the rescue ships Aquarius (2016–2018) and Ocean Viking (since July 2019), a professional rescue crew, and a medical team, SOS MEDITERRANEE is active in the central Mediterranean, where people are fleeing severe human rights violations on unseaworthy boats. Since the start of operations, more than 41,000 people in distress at sea have been brought to safety.

A report on one of the recent sea rescues in August 2026:
“The Ocean Viking was able to bring 55 people to safety following a rescue operation. The survivors had been adrift for three days in an overcrowded rubber dinghy and had run out of drinking water by the time our rescue team reached them. The survivors were mainly from Sudan, Nigeria, Mali, and other West African countries, many of which are affected by conflict and war. Among them were nine children, four of whom were unaccompanied.

The youngest of those rescued was 11-month-old Fatoumata, who had to flee Mali with her family. On board the Ocean Viking, little Fatoumata took the first steps of her life. Her first step was small and unsteady. She took her second and third steps with a bit more confidence, encouraged by her parents and our team surrounding her. Small moments of joy on a journey that no child in the world should ever have to endure. We hope that she and her family will be able to take many more steps in peace and safety.”

We are in close contact with the new project and are very grateful for the opportunity to support it.

Visit the SOS MEDITERRANEE website