Italy Kept Humanitarian NGOs Away From Migrant Rescue Zones for Over 2 Years
Migrant receives care on a rescue ship in the Mediterranean. X/ @SOSMedIntl
February 12, 2025 Hour: 9:57 am
Since January 2023, rescue ships owned by these NGOs have been immobilized for 640 days.
On Wednesday, the organization SOS Mediterranee presented a report showing that humanitarian NGOs stayed away from migrant rescue zones in the central Mediterranean for 735 days.
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This happened as a consequence of the law passed by far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which assigns “distant ports” for the disembarkation of rescued migrants. This policy forced humanitarian vessels to travel 135,000 km more than usual.
“Just the ship Ocean Viking spent an additional 1.3 million euros between 2022 and 2024, undertook 171 extra days of navigation, and traveled more than 63,000 kilometers to reach the assigned ports, which were sometimes up to 1,000 kilometers away from where rescues take place,” SOS Mediterranee said.
Since the introduction of the so-called ‘Piantedosi Decree,’ named after the Interior Minister and aimed at limiting NGO activities, “26 blocking orders have been issued against 10 ships. Since January 2023, NGO vessels have been immobilized for 640 days.”
“The most serious issue is that, by leaving this stretch of sea exposed, the central Mediterranean has become even more dangerous for people attempting to cross it, with 735 total days in which NGO vessels were kept away,” SOS Mediterranee Director Valeria Taurino warned.
“How many people disappeared or were intercepted by the Libyan coast guard? What is certain is that in the two years of the Piantedosi Decree’s implementation, 4,225 people have died in this section of the sea. It was these people who paid the highest price for Italian policies—policies that hinder in every possible way those who work to save men, women, and children,” she added.
For this reason, SOS Mediterranee called on the Meloni government “to ensure respect for international maritime law and to put an end to the practice of assigning distant disembarkation ports, which needlessly prolong the suffering of shipwreck survivors” on humanitarian vessels.
During a mission in March 2024, for example, the Ocean Viking crew rescued 25 people in distress from a shipwreck in which about 60 people went missing. This was followed by three more operations, bringing the total number of people rescued to 361 in two days. Finally, the authorities designated Ancona as the port for the disembarkation of the survivors, about four days of navigation from the rescue site.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
