Sánchez asserts that Spain had the “legal responsibility,” under international law, to receive the MV Hondius

Eduardo González The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, reiterated this Tuesday that Spain had the “legal responsibility” to attend to the emergency of the MV Hondius cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak, “as stipulated in Article 44 of the International Health Regulations, to which Spain is a signatory.” “On May 5th, Spain received a distress call from a small vessel in the Atlantic Ocean, but that call also came from the World Health Organization, the European Union, and more than 23 governments worldwide, all asking for our help in repatriating a group of people threatened by a hantavirus outbreak,” declared Pedro Sánchez during a joint press conference with the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the Moncloa Palace. “Some at the time advised us to ignore that call, a few demanded it, and others, who are usually quick to offer opinions on everything, maintained a self-serving silence and stood aside, as if there weren't also Spanish citizens on board that ship,” he lamented. “In those days, we heard many public officials asking why Cape Verde wasn't hosting the operation, why Spain had to do it, but we were clear that wasn't the question. The right question was different: why aren't we going to protect our compatriots who were on that cruise ship, and why aren't we going to help those in need if it's within our power to do so?” he continued. “This world doesn't need more selfishness or more fear. What it needs are countries that show solidarity and are willing to step forward. That's why, on the afternoon of May 5th, we officially informed the World Health Organization that Spain would comply, as we always have, and that Spain would therefore welcome the MV Hondius. Furthermore, we would do so on the coast of Tenerife, which, according to the experts from that same organization, was the first suitable port the ship would encounter on its route,” the Prime Minister explained. “As we have said from the beginning of this emergency, it was our legal responsibility, as outlined in Article 44 of the International Health Regulations, to which Spain is a signatory,” he affirmed. Furthermore, “it is our moral obligation to the 150 families of tourists and workers who were experiencing the worst moment of their lives, including fellow Spaniards,” he emphasized. He added, “We wanted to show the world that Spain is a society committed to global health, international law, and multilateralism; that we are a country that receives help from others when it needs it, but that also helps others when it can and when necessary.” Therefore, he asserted, “moments after accepting the WHO's request, the Spanish Government got to work applying the four guiding principles that we have always implemented in previous emergencies”: scientific rigor, absolute transparency in providing information to our citizens and the media, institutional coordination, and international cooperation. “We informed the public, activated the European civil protection mechanism, and began working with the World Health Organization, the European Commission, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Canary Islands authorities, and the 23 countries whose citizens were on board the cruise ship to design and deploy the reception, care, and repatriation operation,” he recalled. Thanks to this operation, he specified, “more than 120 people of various nationalities have been repatriated via ten special flights.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus For his part, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported that, when the ship was near Cape Verde, he contacted its Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, to request assistance in the evacuation of the three symptomatic passengers on board. After determining that “the situation exceeded Cape Verde’s capacity to manage the disembarkation and repatriation of the affected individuals,” he contacted Sánchez “to see if Spain could assist us and manage the disembarkation of the passengers with the support of the WHO.” “Furthermore, the European Union’s own assessment was in the same direction, and President Sánchez also received the request from the European Union and responded immediately in the affirmative,” he continued. “Over the past week, Spain and the WHO have worked closely together, under Spain’s leadership, along with the Dutch government and the ship’s owners, to coordinate and carry out the operation that has taken place over the last two days,” he added. “I want to thank President Sánchez not only for fulfilling Spain’s legal obligations under international law, but also for exercising his moral duty to show solidarity with the ship’s passengers, especially during these very difficult times they were going through,” he added.

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