Two Danish aid workers charged with “human trafficking” in Greece

Two Danish aid workers from the non-profit organization Team Humanity were arrested on human trafficking charges on the Greek island of Lesbos.

The two men, aged 26 and 33, are now sitting in custody awaiting a trial that could possibly see them get four years in prison. The organization’s chairman said the men were saving refugees from a sinking boat in the Aegean Sea.

Allegedly, they had contacted the Greek coastguard after receiving a distress call, but when the Greek coastguard did not show up, the Danes together with three Spanish volunteers began to help the refugees onto their own boat. Then they called the coastguard again, and this time it responded by escorting them to the island.

Later that day, the volunteers were arrested and charged with human trafficking.

Team Humanity was established spontaneously in the autumn of 2015, when a group of young friends, mostly from Copenhagen, decided to travel to Lesbos to help save Syrian refugees from drowning.

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation, Philanthropy by Grant Montgomery.