Two charities slam Italy over rescue ship flagging row
ROME: Two charities lambasted Italy for pressuring Panama into revoking its f lag from migrant rescue ship Aquarius, warning the move deals a ‘ major blow’ to humanitarian missions off Europe’s southern coasts.
SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders ( MSF) said they were ‘ reeling’ from Saturday’s announcement by the Panama Maritime Authority that it must revoke the registration of the ship owing to what the NGO’s termed ‘ blatant economic and political pressure from the Italian government’.
“This announcement condemns hundreds of men, women and children who are desperate to reach safety to a watery grave, and deals a major blow to the lifesaving humanitarian mission of the Aquarius, the only remaining non- governmental search and rescue vessel in the Central Mediterranean,” the NGOs stated.
They urged European governments to “allow the Aquarius to continue its mission, by affirming to the Panamanian authorities that threats made by the Italian government are unfounded, or by immediately issuing a new flag under which the vessel can sail”.
Italy’s foreign ministry did not comment when contacted by AFP. Panama said it was revoking its flag owing to ‘ non-respect’ of ‘international legal procedures’ relating to migrant rescues in the Mediterranean.
Aquarius spent 19 days docked in the French port of Marseille after Gibraltar revoked its f lag last month. It set sail again last week after first acquiring Panamanian recognition. But Panama then launched ‘an official revocation procedure’ after Italian authorities complained Aquarius’s captain had ‘refused to return migrants and refugees back to their point of origin.’
Aquarius had picked up 11 migrants off the coast of Libya but refused to take them back to the North African country and instead went in search of an alternative port. The vessel has been operated by charities SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders since 2016.