2023-08-23 19:36:05
The “Open Arms”, ship of the eponymous NGO, in the port of Messina, August 27, 2022. JUAN MEDINA / REUTERS
Italian authorities have ordered the immobilization of two migrant rescue ships due to the violation of controversial new legislation, bringing the total to three in 48 hours, the NGOs concerned announced on Wednesday (August 23rd). .
The Spanish organization Open Arms says it was fined 10,000 euros and the ship bearing its name was seized on Tuesday after the crew ignored authorities’ instructions not to carry out two rescue operations in Mediterranean.
The German NGO Sea-Eye announces that it will be fined 3,000 euros and its ship Sea-Eye 4 was immobilized after carrying out three rescue operations, which she said collected 114 people.
Both vessels violated a recent law requiring NGO vessels to return to a port chosen by the Italian authorities between rescues.
Monday, theAuroraof the German NGO Sea-Watch, had been seized under another provision of this law, for having landed migrants in a port not chosen by the Italian authorities.
The new legislation was passed this year by the government of far-right leader Giorgia Meloni in a bid to curb arrivals, although migrants picked up on NGO ships do not represent only a fraction of the total.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers In Italy, the Meloni government still under fire from critics two weeks after a shipwreck of migrants
“There would have been deaths”
More than 105,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the start of the year, more than double compared to 2022 over the same period, according to figures from the interior ministry.
More than 2,000 migrants have also died trying to cross the Mediterranean since January, according to the UN.
The World App
The Morning of the World
Every morning, find our selection of 20 articles not to be missed
Download the app
Open Arms said its ship was heading for the port of Carrara, chosen by the Italian authorities, when the crew became aware of a distress call from Alarm Phone, a number used by migrants encountering difficulties during their crossing. This alert “concerned two vessels in danger south of [sa] position », did he declare. The information was confirmed by an NGO surveillance plane.
In the absence of an immediate response from the Italian authorities to this distress call, the crew of the Open Arms ship explains that it respected international maritime law by carrying out the rescue.
The ship was then ordered “to abandon the search and continue to the chosen port, since the authorities had taken the situation in hand”but without setting a deadline, according to Open Arms.
The boat therefore continued on its way and collected 132 people on Friday, during a two-hour operation “during which no vessel of the authorities showed up, confirming once again that these people were left adrift”. The boat then traveled to Carrara, where it was seized.
According to Sea-Eye, and Sea-Eye 4 was seized in the port of Salerno (South) for “having carried out more than one rescue operation”, Thursday and Friday. “If we hadn’t done it, there would have been deaths”, assures Gorden Isler, an official of the organization, in a press release. Italian legislation is “contrary to international law, which obliges a captain to rescue people in distress at sea”he notes.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers In Lampedusa, the tragedy of migrants is repeated: “We have lost the habit of seeing survivors”
#Italy #immobilized #migrant #rescue #ships #hours