NGOs challenge Italy’s 'selective' approach on migrants

By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) – Two humanitarian organizations are challenging Italy’s far-right government led by Giorgia Meloni, whose "selective approach” in disembarking migrants rescued weeks ago prevented hundreds of people from leaving the charity ships.

On Monday, about 215 migrants were still blocked onboard the Geo Barents vessel – operated by Doctors without Borders (MSF) – and 35 were on the Humanity 1, managed by German charity SOS Humanity, in the Sicilian port of Catania.

The standoff between Rome and the charity groups started after the Meloni Cabinet imposed a tough stance on migrants heading to Italian ports aboard privately-owned ships, after being rescued from distressed boats in the Mediterranean.

The SOS Humanity announced it has launched legal action against the Italian government in Rome’s administrative tribunal, claiming that the country’s policy violates European laws and the Geneva Refugee Convention.

The charity group also started legal proceedings in Catania, to allow migrants who remained on its ship to disembark safely and begin asylum applications there.

Cracking down on migrants is said to be a flagship policy of the Meloni government – the most conservative since World War II – and hence confrontation with NGOs operating in the Mediterranean – the deadliest route for thousands of migrants who continue to die while trying to reach European coasts.

Meloni also put migration flows in the spotlight during her first trip to Brussels last week. She asked Europe to help handle migrants’ arrivals on Italian coasts, stressing that Italy’s approach to migration will be to “defend its national borders.”

Italy remains one of the main entry points into Europe and since the start of the year 85,000 migrants have arrived on often overcrowded and risky boats.

Under the new decree pushed by hardline Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, Italy now applies a “selective” approach in deciding who can disembark from the charity boats.

Under the new rules, those who do not qualify as “vulnerable” would have to leave Italian waters and should be taken care of by the "flag state."

Children, women and people with health problems were allowed to leave the ships that entered the port of Catania. Others, however, remained on board and are expected to exit Italian waters.

- Standoff continues

Humanity 1's captain has refused to leave the Catania port until all survivors have been disembarked, stressing that "the law of the sea obliges to bring all those rescued from distress to a safe place.”

Till Rummenhohl, head of operations at SOS Humanity, said Italian health authorities conducted triage on board for most of the adults, but not all of them were interviewed with the help of an interpreter and nobody assessed their mental health.

“Thirty-five people are still onboard and didn’t get a place of safety,” he told reporters in Catania. “They are in fear of being brought back to Libya, where they fled from.”

He also stressed that Italy is treating people rescued at sea in different ways. “As long as there’s one single person on our vessel, we won’t leave,” he added. “This decree is illegal and we will take steps against it.”

The MSF, which runs the Geo Barents, also condemned Italy’s policies, saying they cannot be considered “legal under maritime law conventions."

On Monday morning, three people who were onboard the MSF’s ship jumped in the water to try to reach the pier and were then rescued by port authorities. They refused to go back onboard.

Both NGOs stressed that everyone on board their vessels should be considered “vulnerable” as they had been rescued at sea while in distress after undergoing long trips in extreme health and sanitary conditions.

Two other charity ships also remain at sea waiting for a safe port to disembark the rescued migrants on board.

About 90 people are on the German-run ship Rise Above and 234 on the Ocean Viking, operated by European charity SOS Mediterranee.