It has been well-reported of Lebanon’s historic economic and political collapse over the past two years. This was only exacerbated by COVID and then the blast at the Beirut port in 2020. The Lebanese people are facing dire circumstances without access to basic human rights. Human Rights Watch stated in its most recent World Report, “The Lebanese pound has lost 90 percent of its value since October 2019, eroding people’s ability to access basic goods, including food, water, health care, and education. Fuel shortages have caused widespread electricity blackouts, lasting up to 23 hours per day.” This two-part program examined how the Lebanese people are so desperate to escape, they are scraping together all the money they have risk traveling across the Mediterranean Sea in the hopes of building a new life in Europe. However, unscrupulous boat owners are taking their money and sending them off to fend for themselves in boats that would have difficulty making the trip in the best of circumstances. They have come to be known as “death boats.”
This topic was important to cover, because it showed the true desperation of the Lebanese people, who felt they were already “the living dead in our country” so why not risk your life. Other media outlets have reported on “death boats” from North Africa and Cuba, but the fact that this was also occurring from Lebanon had been kept mostly silent in the press.
The Alhurra Investigates team worked hard to earn the trust of survivors to be able to get them to tell their stories on camera. This also meant those who supplied the “death boats” knew there was an investigation into their culpability, as they started asking for information and names of the Alhurra Investigates team. Lebanese security officials were also reluctant to share details with the team, due to the secretive nature of their work. The Alhurra Investigates team became interested in this topic when a Lebanese father threw the body of his child overboard after his child died on a “death boat.” Those in society that did talk about it, blamed him for being irresponsible for putting his son in danger.
This two-part investigation examined issues that are not often reported on in this level of detail in the Arab media. The report was able to speak to survivors and a boat owner and also addressed the fact that there is little to no prosecution of these death boat owners.
