The organisation was founded in 2007 by Judith Gleitze, Harald Glöde, Stefan Schmidt and Elias Bierdel [de].
Its founding was at least partly a response to the 2004 case of the German rescue ship ‘Cap Anamur’ in which, after the rescue of 37 men in distress at sea, the ship's captain, Stefan Schmidt, and the organisation's chairman, Elias Bierdel were arrested and held in Italy before being acquitted, 5 years later, of aiding and abetting irregular entry.
[3] The organisation mainly focuses on research at the External border of the European Union and on reporting on the situation on the ground.
In Palermo the organisation monitors and observes conditions of refugees arriving into transit camps and when accessing the asylum procedure.
Language courses, legal advice, educational offers for children and adults, psychosocial support and leisure events are to be organised here - for both refugees and the local population.