While the interior minister confirms ports are closed to NGO ships, more than 1,000 people in the central Mediterranean are waiting for a safe place to disembark
Gone are the days when Italy agreed to allow migrants rescued by NGO ships from other countries to disembark at its ports. Matteo Piantedosi, interior minister in the new Italian government led by Giorgia Meloni, made it very clear this Wednesday in an interview with the newspaper ‘Corriere della Sera’. So far, more than 1,000 people have been rescued by humanitarian ships in the central Mediterranean that have been waiting for days for a safe harbor to disembark, in some cases up to 12.
“We cannot take care of the migrants picked up at sea by foreign ships that operate systematically without preventive coordination with the authorities,” said Piantedosi, chief of staff for League leader Matteo Salvini, who has been demonstrating on the same line for the past few days. As Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Salvini has claimed authority over the ports, insisting that migrants rescued by humanitarian ships in the Sicilian Channel should not be allowed to reach them.
According to data from Piantedosi, arrivals via this route account for only 16% of the landings. So far, nearly 86,000 displaced persons have arrived in Italy via the central Mediterranean in 2022, compared to 53,800 in the same period in 2021 and 28,300 in 2020. “As we take care of the remaining 84% of migrants arriving on our coasts, by other means or rescued by us, we hope that the so-called European solidarity will become a reality. And not just through relocations, which have so far been unsuccessful,” the minister demanded, requesting that the flag countries of the humanitarian ships take charge of the people rescued by these ships.
Piantedosi was also in favor of preventing immigrant boats from leaving North Africa, the goal pursued by the Italy-Libya agreement that was automatically extended this Wednesday for another three years. This pact, first signed in 2017 and sponsored by the European Union, provides for the Italian government to provide money, patrol boats and other resources, as well as technical training, to the Libyan authorities so that they can monitor their waters, inland vessels immigrants to set sail and return them to Libyan territory when intercepted at sea.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), like many humanitarian organizations, has criticized this agreement for continuing “the cycle of violence” that these people are undergoing in the North African country, “which is not a safe place for migrants to return to.” to turn.” The ‘Geo Barents’, chartered by Médecins Sans Frontières, is one of the ships currently waiting in the central Mediterranean for a safe harbor where it can disembark the 572 migrants rescued during various operations in waters under the responsibility of searchers. and rescue operations from Mout. Among them are three pregnant women and more than 60 minors, many of them unaccompanied. Neither Malta nor Italy have complied with the various requests from the ‘Geo Barents’ to be allocated a safe place for these people to land.
Source: La Verdad
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