While France is ready to take in some of the displaced, Germany and Norway remind Rome that it is their responsibility to be the nearest safe haven
The new Italian government led by Giorgia Meloni is facing its first migration crisis with the more than 1,000 people waiting for days for a safe harbor to disembark after being rescued by four NGO ships operating in the central Mediterranean. After the executive in Rome made it clear this week that it has no intention of caring for the immigrants rescued by humanitarian ships flying the flags of other countries, and urged those countries to take care of them , there was a small opening this Saturday for the Italy accept that children and pregnant women go ashore. The strong hand against immigration was one of Meloni’s election promises during the campaign leading up to the elections on September 25.
The concession to the most vulnerable, coupled with the authorization for two of these ships to enter Italian territorial waters, took place after the exchange of statements with the authorities of Germany and Norway, where these ships are registered. The NGO Sos Méditerranée, whose ship ‘Ocean Viking’ has 234 displaced persons on board, has even asked Spain, France and Greece for help to solve this crisis, as the situation for these people becomes more and more desperate.
For now, only the French authorities are willing to welcome some of the immigrants from the ‘Ocean Viking’ after they finally land in an Italian port. “The fact that Italy is geographically closest to that ship does not mean it should be left alone,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said. In a diplomatic tone, the member of the French executive was confident that Rome would comply with international law, which is “quite clear” by stating that when a ship with castaways on board asks for help, “welcome the nearest safe harbor they.” , in this particular case Italy.
Norway, the flag state of the ‘Ocean Viking’ and MSF chartered ‘Geo Barents’, also called on international maritime law to remind us that Italy must solve this crisis. “Norway has no responsibility regarding human rights treaties or the law of the sea with people who have boarded private ships flying the Norwegian flag,” the Scandinavian country’s embassy in Rome wrote in a note, stressing that responsibility would lie with Libya. Since it is an unsafe country, it is up to the border states, i.e. Italy and Malta, to intervene.
Oslo’s position is taken a day after Germany, the flag country of the humanitarian ship ‘Humanity 1’, which has 179 immigrants on board, and of the ‘Rise Above’, which has 95, asked the authorities in Rome to “urgently” concerns of these people. The EU has also reminded Italy and Malta of their responsibility to the 1,000 survivors waiting for a safe harbor where they can land. “Saving lives at sea is a moral duty and a legal obligation under the international law of Member States, regardless of the circumstances,” said Anitta Hipper, spokesman for the European Commission. Despite these words, the EU has failed to make the system work successfully to redistribute migrants arriving in Italy, Spain, Greece and Malta across European territory. Moreover, nine of the twenty-seven countries have not adhered to this programme. These are Poland, Hungary, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.
As their fate is debated in European capitals, the more than 1,000 migrants aboard the Ocean Viking, the Geo Barents, the Humanity 1 and the Rise Above face increasingly harsher conditions. “They urgently need a safe haven. His health is deteriorating and the cold of the night is causing a fever on board,” denounce the lifeguards of “Humanity 1”. On MSF ‘Geo Barents’, the situation is also hopeless for the 572 people on board, including three pregnant women and more than 60 minors, many of whom are unaccompanied. Some were rescued more than a week ago.
“We had to ration shower water for the first time,” warned Doctors Without Borders’ Candida Lobes, recalling that many of these migrants were abused in various ways for months in Libya before they could leave for Europe. “All they need immediately is to disembark at a port where they feel safe,” he claimed. Sos Méditerranée expressed itself along the same lines: it called for a smooth functioning of the relocation of immigrants between the different EU countries, so that the problem does not only weigh on Italy and Malta, although it recalled that this issue “is not the responsibility” belongs to the NGO.
Despite the controversy surrounding the humanitarian boats, only a small proportion of arrivals in Italy are made via these boats. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior of Rome, they are around 16%, which reports that so far in 2022, 87,370 displaced persons have landed in Italy via the central Mediterranean, compared to 54,373 in the same period in 2021 and 29,569 in 2020.
Source: La Verdad
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