Italy's top administrative court, the
Council of State, has suspended the delivery of six patrol boats
to Tunisia, pending a ruling on a legal challenge by several
NGOs against the move, the associations involved said on
Thursday.
The ASGI, ARCI, ActionAid, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Spazi
Circolari and Le Carbet NGOs took legal action against 4.8
million euros of public money being allocated to the
refurbishment of the boats so that they could be transferred
Tunisia as part of cooperation with the authorities there.
A decision on the petition is set to be made on July 11.
"As even the United Nations has said, providing patrol boats to
the Tunisian authorities increases the risk of migrants being
subjected to illegal deportations," said Maria Teresa
Brocchetto, Luce Bonzano and Cristina Laura Cecchini of the pool
lawyers involved in the case.
ARCI's Filippo Miraglia said serious human-rights violations
were being committed by the Tunisian authorities.
"The new wave of arrests and deportations of migrant people is
now being accompanied by persecutions of the civil society
parties who support them," Miraglia said.
"Italian and European policies seem... impervious to the alarms
sounded by the United Nations and the International NGOs, which
unanimously condemn the actions of the Tunisian authorities"
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
