NGOs that help migrants in the Mediterranean are once again denouncing the desire of the far-right Italian government to hinder assistance to people in distress.
Vessel Geo Barents, which was able to rescue 48 migrants from the Libyan coast, is currently en route to the port of Ancona, located more than 1,300 kilometers from the rescue point. A perilous journey and a policy that has now become customary in Italy to assign very distant ports.
Since January, several international NGOs engaged in rescue operations for migrants in the Mediterranean have denounced the will of the far-right Italian government ” to hinder assistance to persons in distress “by a decree obliging ships to surrender” without delay to an Italian port after each rescue.
They denounce in use the fact that these ports are very far from the rescue zones, imposing long delays, which reduces the assistance capacities, already hampered by the prohibition to chain several rescues in a row.
? BREAKING NEWS
After a few days of bad weather, our team spotted from the bridge a wooden boat in distress located in international waters near #Libya. 48 people, including nine minors, have been rescued and are now safely aboard #GeoBarents pic.twitter.com/WnMqKjBOQp—MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) February 13, 2023
” International rules state that people should be disembarked as soon as possible in a safe place, says Riccardo Gatti, head of rescue operations at MSF, at the microphone of Margaux Ratayzyk of RFI’s international service. On this point, things have changed with this new government. One of the abusive measures taken against the NGOs is to send us to distant ports in order to keep us away from the rescue zone. Normally it takes a day or a day and a half to reach a port in Sicily, but now it can take four or five days to reach the port indicated to us. This is problematic, because we are transporting people who obviously need adequate care as quickly as possible. Despite all the resources we have on board, these are still limited means. »
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Same treatment forocean viking
The NGO SOS Méditerranée, whose ambulance ship ocean viking rescued 95 migrants off Libya at the end of January, also denounced the decision of the Italian authorities to disembark them “ at 1,500 kilometers » of the rescue zone.
” The Italian authorities assigned the Ocean Viking to the port of Carrara in Italy for the disembarkation of the 95 survivors “, including 20 women and 38 minors, among whom 33 are unaccompanied, the NGO based in Marseille told AFP.
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” Carrara is 1,500 km from the area of operation, which involves a three-day navigation and exposes women, men and children to waves, rain, wind and cold. “, she insisted in an email, noting that” by law, the disembarkation of people rescued at sea must be organized as soon as possible to ensure their health and safety “.
The government of Giorgia Meloni came to power in October promising to stop the arrival of migrants in Italy, which saw more than 105,000 in 2022 by sea, according to the Italian Ministry of the Interior. According to local media, migrants rescued and disembarked by NGOs represented in 2022 around 12% of the total, most being taken care of by the Italian navy or coast guard.
According to the latest figures from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, 4,459 migrants landed in Italy between January 1 and 26 this year, compared to 2,074 for the same period in 2022 and 872 still over the same period in 2021. Central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency estimates that in 2022, 1,377 migrants disappeared there. Wednesday, February 15, at least 73 migrants were missing and presumed dead following a shipwreck off the coast of Libya, according to the IOM.