xi's moments
Home | Europe

Italy prevents migrants leaving ships

By JONATHAN POWELL in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2022-11-08 09:31

This photo taken on Nov 3, 2022 and handout on Nov 5, 2022 by German-flagged NGO Mission Lifeline shows migrants preparing to get on board the "Rise Above" rescue ship after being rescued off the coast of Sicily, southern Italy. [Photo/Agencies]

Humanitarian groups and lawmakers have condemned Italian authorities for preventing migrants they did not deem to be "vulnerable" from disembarking from rescue ships in Sicily on Sunday.

Charities and politicians slammed the selection process as illegal and branded the actions of the Italian government inhumane, reported the Associated Press news service, or AP.

Italy's new far-right-led government is reportedly targeting foreign-flagged rescue ships in a new procedure that is part of a directive brought about by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi.

Italy allowed a rescue ship carrying 179 refugees and migrants to enter a port in Sicily on Sunday and then later begin disembarking children and sick or "vulnerable" people, but 35 men on board were blocked from getting off the vessel, reported the Reuters news agency.

Later, agencies reported that 144 people had been allowed to disembark the Humanity 1 rescue ship, which sails under a German flag. In the afternoon, 357 people were allowed off the Geo Barents ship operated by Doctors Without Borders, which sails under a Norwegian flag, but 215 people remained blocked on board.

Authorities continued to refuse safe harbor for hundreds of migrants onboard two other ships stranded in nearby waters, said the AP.

Humanity 1's captain is refusing to leave the port of Catania "until all survivors rescued from distress at sea have been disembarked", said SOS Humanity, the German-run charity that operates the ship.

The charity denounced Piantedosi's decision to only allow vulnerable people to disembark and on Monday said it would launch legal action against the Italian government, claiming Italy's actions violate European law and the Geneva Refugee Convention.

The BBC noted that Italy is one of the main entry points into Europe, and, according to the United Nations, 85,000 migrants have arrived there on small, overcrowded boats since the start of the year.

Italy's new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has promised to clampdown on those making the hazardous journeys across the Mediterranean. The new government is insisting the countries whose flags the charity-run ships fly must take in the migrants.

Nongovernmental organizations say coastal nations are obligated by the law of the sea to rescue people in distress and that they are obligated to provide a safe port as soon as feasible.

Till Rummenhohl, head of operations at SOS Humanity, said people were being "held hostage" onboard the Humanity 1 vessel.

"We had health authorities onboard who decided who's weak enough, who is basically in urgent medical case and who's not," Rummenhohl told DW News.

"The people are not really sure what's happening to them. They have an uncertain future. They are afraid of being pushed back from Italy, into international waters or even to Libya. That's their greatest fear," he said.

Speaking from onboard the Humanity 1 rescue ship on Sunday, Italian lawmaker Aboubakar Soumahoro accused Meloni of "playing politics" at the expense of "newborns, of women, of people who have suffered traumas of all kinds", reported AP.

Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349