Proactiva Open Arms
Proactiva Open Arms (POA) is a Spanish NGO devoted to search and rescue (SAR) at sea. Set up in October 2015, it carried out its first rescue action that same month from its base on the Greek island of Lesbos. As well as maintaining a permanent base on Lesbos, the NGO carries out its rescue operations from three ships, a sailing yacht Astral, the Golfo Azzurro and Open Arms.
Volunteer lifeguards (with yellow-red clothes) from Proactiva Open Arms helping Syrian and Iraqi refugees (Lesbos, October 2015). | |
| Named after | Proactiva Serveis Aquàtics |
|---|---|
| Founder | Òscar Camps |
| Founded at | Badalona (Catalonia, Spain) |
| Type | Private non profit foundation |
| Purpose | Search and rescue (SAR) |
| Location |
|
Region | Mediterranean |
| Services | Sea rescue lifeguards |
| Website | www |
In 2016, Proactiva won the H.E.R.O. Award for Outstanding Team Contribution to a Maritime SAR Operation at the first edition of the UK-based International Maritime Rescue Federation's (IMRF) H.E.R.O. (Honouring Excellence in Rescue Operations) Awards for their participation in saving the lives of over 200 people who had capsized their overloaded vessel off the north shore of Lesbos.
The NGO has received several other awards, including the European Citizen's Prize awarded by the European Parliament in 2016. Its founder, Òscar Camps, was named Catalan of the Year by El Periódico de Catalunya in 2015. In October 2021, film director Marcel Barrena released a film, Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea, devoted to the story of Òscar Camps and his colleagues which is very close to be a documentary.