CommemorAction day in Valletta: all deaths will always matter

Blue Door Education hosted  the CommemorAction Day on 6 February,  to mark a day of remembrance celebrated in multiple cities across Europe on the 7th February. The event honoured those who have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean, while calling for concrete political and legal action to prevent further loss of life.

Speakers and the public during the CommemorAction on the 6th February 2026 in Valetta. The CommemorAction is an advocacy event that seeks to commemorate those who didn't make it through the perilous migratory route taken by migrants in search of protection in Europe.

Speaking at the gathering, Justine Lublow from Blue Door Education, Regine Nguin from African Media Association Malta and Abbas Moussa from the Sudanese Community each addressed the small crowd from a different angle, but  shared a  message that the Mediterranean must not be allowed to become a mass grave.

Opening the event,  Lublow  reminded participants that CommemorAction is not symbolic. “For us here in Malta, in the heart of the Mediterranean, this is not just a date on a calendar,” she said. “It is a daily reality at our shores.” She rejected the normalization of deaths at sea, stressing that those who disappear are too often reduced to numbers. “They had names, families, and a right to life.”

These are not statistics, they are parents, siblings, and children.

Referring to recent tragedies, Lublow highlighted the devastating start to 2026, including the reported deaths of up to 1,000 people in a single week following Cyclone Harry, and the more than 1,900 people recorded dead or missing in the Mediterranean in 2025 alone. “These are not statistics,” she said. “They are parents, siblings, and children.”

She also underlined that rescue at sea is not optional. Under international maritime law, states have a clear obligation to assist those in distress. Recent rulings by international bodies, including the UN Human Rights Committee, have reaffirmed this duty, reminding Malta that even answering a distress call is a legal requirement. “When coordination is delayed,” she said, “the right to life becomes a hollow phrase.”

Who could have imagined, not so long ago, that Ukrainians would become refugees in Europe?

Regine Nguini shifted the focus to the broader political climate in Europe, denouncing what she described as the ongoing criminalisation of migration and of those who assist migrants. She pointed to court cases against rescue vessels in both Malta and Italy as part of a wider strategy to deter solidarity. Nguini also addressed the racialised nature of public indifference, noting how deaths of people who are not white often fail to provoke outrage or sustained media attention.

She urged those present not to retreat into silence. She added that history shows how quickly exclusion can spread. “Who could have imagined, not so long ago, that Ukrainians would become refugees in Europe?” she asked.

The final intervention came from Abass Moussa, who framed migration as a human right. People fleeing war and persecution, he argued, are not breaking the law, they are exercising a fundamental right to seek safety. Referring to conflicts such as the ongoing crisis in Sudan, Moussa spoke of the countless lives lost at sea over the years, “people who have become food for fish,” as he put it.

An activist involved in search and rescue operations, intervened from the crowd to underline that the problem lies not with those who move, but with the systems that force people into deadly journeys. “The law should not blame the victims by letting them die,” he said, calling instead for safe and legal migration pathways that guarantee dignity and protection.

Refusing to accept the Mediterranean as a cemetery is both an act of memory and a promise that these lives mattered, and that those still at sea will not be forgotten.

This event was endorsed by the Malta Refugee Council