Doctors Without Borders To Return To The Mediterranean Despite Italian Laws
Doctors Without Borders rescues migrants in the Mediterranean. X/ @AngiKappa
December 13, 2024 Hour: 8:01 am
Since 2021, the humanitarian ship Geo Barents has rescued 12,675 people in 190 operations.
On Friday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced it will return to the Mediterranean sean to continue saving the lives of migrants. However, it will do so with a smaller ship to combat what it calls “illegitimate rules imposed by the Italian government.”
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MSF’s search and rescue mission chief, Juan Gil, announced that the humanitarian ship Geo Barents, with a capacity for 600 people, would end its operations due to the “absurd and senseless laws” implemented by far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to curb irregular immigration.
“The project to change the vessel began when the Italian government imposed the ‘Piantedosi decree’ in January last year,” Gil said, adding that MSF expects to reactivate its operations in the Mediterranean next spring.
The MSF mission chief was referring to a regulation introduced by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, which significantly complicates rescue operations by NGOs in the Mediterranean. This law requires their ships to dock at distant ports and allows for the administrative detention of their vessels.
For a large ship like the Geo Barents, docking with only a few rescued people “didn’t make much sense, and that’s why they would send us north” to disembark them, requiring journeys of over 1,000 kilometers, Gil stated.
“A smaller vessel will help minimize the time spent traveling to and from the rescue zone, as smaller ships cannot go as far due to their fuel range. It makes much more sense today with these illegitimate rules that the Italian government has imposed,” he added.
However, the decision to temporarily halt operations in the Mediterranean is not a victory for Meloni’s government. “I don’t think we can speak of victories or defeats when lives are at stake. What we are seeing is a great shame for letting people die due to the arbitrariness of the regulatory framework,” the MSF representative said.
“Laws should protect lives, respect people’s rights, and allow them to find safety in a place where their lives are not in danger, where they have freedom and opportunities. To call this a victory would be cruel and extremely cynical,” he added.
“It’s clear that the Italian government, with its policies, is undeniably failing—like with the agreement with Albania to repatriate migrants rescued by Italy from that country,” the representative continued. “They need an enemy to target, to continue political campaigning, gaining a few votes, but at a very high cost—lost lives.”
The Geo Barents, a humanitarian ship active since June 2021, has rescued 12,675 people in 190 operations. Over the past two years, it has been subjected to four sanctions by Italian authorities, totaling 160 days of administrative detention.
“We will return to the sea as soon as possible to save lives in the Central Mediterranean, where more than 31,000 people have died or gone missing since 2014. We reaffirm our commitment to assisting people on the move along one of the deadliest migration routes in the world,” the NGO explained.
“We will also return to bear witness and denounce the violations committed against migrants by Italy, EU member states, and other actors,” Gil assured.
In the two years since the Piantedosi decree came into effect, Doctors Without Borders has pursued all legal avenues and appealed punitive sanctions and the assignment of distant ports. It has successfully obtained two 60-day suspensions of detention orders.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
