Statements by Premier Giorgia Meloni
and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi implying migrants
brought tragedy on themselves by attempting the perilous
Mediterranean sea passage to Italy are a "slap in the face" for
the scores of victims of the weekend migrant shipwreck on the
Calabrian coast, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Monday.
The Italian government has been trying to discourage NGOs like
MSF from saving lives in the Med saying they are a pull factor
for migrants.
It has assigned ports of arrival far from rescue points and
brought in a code of conduct requiring rescue boats to make only
one rescue at a time, with stiff fines if they break the code.
"I say this with the respect that is due to the victims, with
grief for what happened, and also with the firm intention, as
requested by Premier Meloni, not to speculate on these
tragedies. But we cannot help but say with anger that the first
statements by Prime Minister Meloni and Minister Piantedosi are
little more than a sad blame game, yet another slap in the face
of the victims and survivors of this tragedy", said Marco
Bertotto, director of programmes for MSF Italy during a press
conference on the Crotone shipwreck.
"Desperation can never justify travel conditions that endanger
the lives of one's children," said Piantedosi, while Meloni said
"the action of those who today speculate on these deaths, after
having exalted the illusion of an immigration without rules,
comments itself", adding that the government "is committed to
preventing the departures and with them the consummation of
these tragedies, and will continue to do so, first of all by
demanding the maximum collaboration from the States of departure
and origin".
The MSF-run Geo Barents has become the first vessel to be
penalized under the Italian government's new decree regulating
the activities of NGO-run migrant rescue ships in the
Mediterranean.
The ship has been banned from operating for 20 days and its
operators fined 10,000 euros for allegedly failing to give
Italian authorities all the information they asked from it.
The notification of the penalty was issued on Thursday after 48
asylum seekers disembarked from the ship in Ancona on February
17.
MSF is considering appealing against the punishment.
The Italian government is trying to discourage NGO-run ships,
saying their activities encourage small boats carrying asylum
seekers to attempt the hazardous crossing from North Africa to
Italy.
Under the decree, NGO-run ships must immediately request the
authorities assign them a port of safety after making a rescue,
rather than staying at sea to help other people.
The government has also started to allocate ports of safety to
NGO ships that are some distance from their position after
making the rescues.
The decree has come under fire from many quarters, including the
United Nations and the Council of Europe.
Interior Undersecretary Nicola Molteni on Thursday defended the
decree, saying it does not aim to "criminalize anyone", but
seeks to simply "regulate sea rescues.
"It lays down rules of conduct that comply with the laws of the
sea," he added.
"Anyone in difficulty at sea should be saved. This is
sacrosanct.
"You don't let anyone die at sea".
More than 100 people including many children and at least one
baby are feared to have died in the tragedy off Crotone.
The death toll currently stands at 62.
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