Italy drafts contested code for NGO migrant boats

Among new rules will be a ban on making phone calls or firing flares

The Italian government, looking to stem a flow of migrants into the country, has drawn up a draft code of conduct for non-governmental organisations operating in the Mediterranean Sea, an official said on Wednesday.

The 11-point plan is expected to be presented in the coming days to some nine NGOs who regularly deploy rescue boats to international waters just off the Libyan coast.

If any group refuses to accept the terms, they risk being barred access to Italian ports, meaning they would have to divert to other countries to disembark any migrants. Among the proposed new rules will be a ban on making phone calls or firing flares that might signal to human traffickers that they could push their migrant boats out to sea.

The NGO vessels will also be obliged to let police travel with them to help root out any human traffickers hidden among the migrants.

No more transfers

In addition, the boats will no longer be allowed to transfer refugees to other ships, but will instead have to bring them to port themselves, limiting their operations. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which received a leaked draft of the Italian document, warned that the proposals could have a disastrous impact on the NGO missions.

“Attempts to restrict NGO search and rescue operations risk endangering thousands of lives by limiting rescue boats from accessing the perilous waters near Libya,” said Iverna McGowan, a senior director with Amnesty International.

Some 85,217 refugees have come to Italy so far this year, according to data released by the interior ministry on Wednesday, up 8.9 per cent on the same period in 2016.

In all, more than 600,000 newcomers, the majority from sub-Sahara Africa, have reached Italy over the past four years, with tens of thousands more expected in the coming months.

A small flotilla of charity boats have become increasingly important in rescue operations, picking up more than a third of all migrants brought ashore so far this year. More than 4,000 migrants and refugees have been rescued in the Central Mediterranean in the past 24 hours, raising the number of arrivals to Italy to 90,000 since the start of the year, according to rescue organisations yesterday.

The Italian Coast Guard said the latest rescue concluded earlier in the day and involved 20 operations carried out by Italian military personnel and boats from the European Union’s (EU) EUNavforMed mission as well as NGOs deployed in the area, reports Efe news.

The newest arrivals meant more than 90,000 migrants and refugees had now been rescued and taken to Italian ports so far this year — a 20 per cent increase year on year, according to Interior Ministry data. The ministry said Italy could see more than 200,000 arrivals in 2017, in excess of the 180,000 people who reached Italian soil last year.

Italy has been bearing the brunt of the flow of migration to Europe, while some other EU countries have refused entry to migrants and refugees.

Interior Minister Marco Minniti was in Libya yesterday to address the problem, given that 97 per cent of those rescued in the Central Med embark on their journeys from Libyan shores.

Italy is the only country to have reopened its embassy in Tripoli and has donated four boats to the government of Prime Minister Fayez Mustafa Al Sarraj for the Libyan Coast Guard.