Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Italy allows rescue ship to enter port
But it refuses requests to dock as hundreds of migrants are stranded offshore
MILAN — Italy allowed a humanitarian rescue ship carrying 179 migrants to enter a Sicilian port and begin disembarking minors early Sunday, while refusing to respond to requests for safe harbor from three other ships carrying 900 more people in nearby waters.
Italy’s new far-right-led government has closed its ports to rescue ships run by non-governmental groups and insists that the countries whose flag the ships fly must take in the migrants. It granted the Humanity 1 alone access to port to land minors and people needing medical attention.
Officials at the German-run charity that operates the Humanity 1 challenged Italy’s move to distinguish “vulnerable” migrants, saying all were rescued at sea and that alone qualifies them for a safe port under international law.
Italy’s only Black lawmaker in the lower chamber, Abourbakar Soumahoro, met the Humanity 1 at the port in Catania and decried the government’s closure of ports to NGO ships as a “shame.”
“Right now, in the port of Catania, there is a selective disembarkation under way,” Soumahoro said on Twitter. “Worn bodies of castaways already exhausted by cold, fatigue, trauma and torture are considered objects by the government of Giorgia Meloni.”
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Friday that the Humanity 1 would be allowed in Italian waters only long enough to disembark minors and people in need of urgent medical care.
The measure was approved after Germany and France each called on Italy to grant a safe port to the migrants, and the two countries indicated that they would receive some of the migrants so Italy would not bear the burden alone. No such provisions have been offered to the other three ships.
The Norway-flagged Geo Barents, carrying 572 migrants, and the German- run Rise Above with 93 aboard entered Italian waters east of Sicily this weekend to seek protection from storm-swollen seas, but without receiving consent from Italy or a response to repeated requests for a safe port.
The Ocean Viking, operated by the European charity SOS Mediteranee, with 234 migrants on board, remained in international waters, south of the Strait of Messina. Its requests for a port also went unanswered.
“We have been waiting for 10 days for a safe place to disembark the 572 survivors,” said Juan Mattias Gil, head of mission for the Geo Barents, which is operated by Doctors without Borders.
SOS Humanity, which operates Humanity 1, said it had made 19 requests for a safe port, all unanswered. The boat is carrying 100 unaccompanied minors as well as infants as young as 7 months.
Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini, known for his anti-migrant stance, cheered the new directive that he signed along with Italy’s defense and interior ministers.
“We stop being hostage to these foreign and private NGOs that organize the routes, the traffic, the transport and the migratory policies,” Salvini said in a Facebook video, repeating his claim that the ships’ presence encourages smugglers.
Nongovernmental organizations say they are obligated by the law of the sea to rescue people in distress, and coastal nations are obligated to provide a safe port as soon as feasible.
While the humanitarian-run boats are being denied a safe port, 147 arrived Saturday in Augusta, including 59 on the oil ship Zagara that also carried two bodies.
The situation on the Rise Above was particularly desperate, with 93 people packed aboard an 82-foot boat.