Òscar Camps Gausachs (

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, 28 November 1963), is a Catalan lifeguard, entrepreneur and activist, known mainly for being the founder and director of the NGO

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 ba ...

. He was awarded the Catalan Prize of the Year in 2015. Born in Barcelona, Camps was the owner of a lifeguard company based in Badalona, Pro-Activa Serveis Aquatics, which was dedicated to maritime services, specifically

water security The aim of water security is to maximize the benefits of water for humans and ecosystems. The second aim is to limit the risks of destructive impacts of water to an acceptable level. These risks include too much water (flood), too little water (d ...

and lifeguarding. In the context of the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...

, during the Syrian civil war, when thousands were losing their lives trying to reach

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, Camps decided to move to

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

, a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

island near

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, to evaluate the situation on the ground. The key event that prompted him to move was the posting of images of the body of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old boy who had died while trying to cross the border with his family. He and a few colleagues decided to apply their lifesaving expertise to help rescue refugees trying to reach the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

via the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

. In September 2015 a group of volunteers decided to found the NGO

, funded with 15,000 euros, and went to the island by work on rescue tasks. At first, the only material they had were various wetsuits, fins and breathing tubes. The group's main activities were to guide and help reach the beaches to refugees, mainly

Syrians Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine Arabic, Levantine and Mesopotamian Arabic, Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The culture of Syria, cultural ...

, who came from

in very precarious boats. Over time, however, the available equipment improved, mainly through donations from individuals. Spanish and European media echoed the activity of Camps and the NGO in Lesbos, mainly due to their visibility in photos uploaded to the internet. For example TV3 broadcast of the To Kyma documentary where the group's activity was monitored in various actions on the Greek island. On March 2, 2016, Camps and Proactiva were able to visit the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, where they spoke on behalf of refugees.

Awards

Camps received the 2015 Catalan of the Year Award. He also received the Medal of Honor of the Parliament of Catalonia in recognition of his humanitarian work through Proactiva Open Arms next to

Carola Rackete Carola Rackete (; born 8 May 1988) is a German conservation ecologist, activist, politician and former ship captain. She was elected to the European Parliament as an independent candidate for the Left Party on June 9, 2024. Rackete participa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camps, Òscar People from Barcelona 21st-century Spanish businesspeople Spanish activists 1963 births Living people