- ROMA, 03 GEN - "Illegal migration and human trafficking are
over: an Italy that does not protect those who abide by the
rules and yet turns the other way with those who systematically
do not, is finished". This is what PM Giorgia Meloni writes on
her Instagram account, while posting a reel with an excerpt of
the latest of "Giorgia's notes" on the day when the NGO decree
enters into force.
International law "does not foresee for someone to act as
ferryboat across the Mediterranean or any other sea to transfer
people from one nation to another". Firstly, the norms "limit
the remit of rescue of migrants to what is already foreseen
under international law with a few simple rules: if you run into
a boat and rescue those on board you must bring them to safety,
so you should not keep them on board while conducting other
multiple rescues until the ship is full" which is not to be
considered "saving shipwrecked persons". Secondly, there must be
"consistency among the activities that some ships conduct in the
Mediterranean and the reason for which these ships are
registered: commercial ships that start to go back and forth to
save migrants is something that clashes with their original
mission". Furthermore, what is needed is "a screening on those
on board, clear information on rescue mechanisms, rules to
impede that while rescuing these people the ship's safety is put
to risk. Strict rules that allow to respect international law".
If they are not respected "there is no authorization to enter
international waters and, if this is violated, what should
follow is an administrative block of the ship, the first time
this happens for a period of two months, should it occur a
second time the ship should be seized and confiscated. We do
this also out of respect migrants because if someone is risking
his life he or she has the right to be rescued and not to become
part of human trafficking in the third millennium, which is
something very different and, in addition, continuing to making
ruthless human smugglers rich with millions of euro".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
