I’m nearly 1000 people housed in three boats that float a few kilometers from the coast of Sicily. To be precise, 985 migrants, including a seven-month-old baby and a baby who goes to meet the terminally ill mother. All stuck waiting for a resolution later the Italian government will deny them entry into its portscontroversial provision of the new government of Giorgia Meloni, which threatens to confront her with Germany, one of her partners in the European Union.

On 26 October, the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, decided to ban two ships carrying rescued migrants in the Mediterranean from entering its ports, the Humanity One and the oceanic viking. In recent days, a third ship has been added, the Geo Barentsmanaged by the NGO Doctors Without Borders, which carries 572 migrants on board.

After four requests for safe harbor to the Maltese authorities, which remained unanswered, the Geo Barents has sent three more official orders to the Italian authorities, so far no success.

“In the past few days we have assisted people traveling on overcrowded boats in critical conditions. All rescues took place in the search and rescue area of ​​Malta. Despite the timely information to the relevant authorities and the repeated request for coordination by the Maltese authorities, all our inquiries went unanswered“explained Riccardo Gatti, head of MSF’s search and rescue team aboard Geo Barents.

“There is a boy on board who is determined to go to Germany. His mother is there, terminally ill with cancer. He wants to see her one last time before she leaves. There was no way to get a visa, so the only one option a this guy was embarked on the deadliest road in the world. These are some of the stories we’ve heard, “added Gatti.

Meloni’s decision has already triggered alarms in Berlin, given that the humanity One, carrying 179 immigrants on board, she sails under the German flag. In an official note sent to Piantedosi, the German government asked for a safe harbor for passengers to disembark.

“We have asked the Italian government to provide them with rapid assistance,” the German executive said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Ocean Viking (Norwegian flag) hosts 234 migrants. The French NGO that manages it, Sos Mediterranee, has been asking for a port for some time, considering that among the rescues there are those who have been at sea for 12 days.

“It’s a Obligation of States to provide the “place of safety‘to ships that have been dedicated to search and rescue and to transport survivors on board, ”said Nicola Stalla, team coordinator.

At this point, it should be remembered that international law, contemplated by the SOLAS and SAR conventions on the rescue of refugees on the high seas, provides that the government responsible for the migrant rescue area is the responsible for providing a safe place for disembarkation.

The position of the Italian government

Giorgia Meloni’s government decision to end migrant landings was brutally exposed earlier this week, when the prime minister referred to these ships as “pirate ships”.

“If you go back and forth between the African coasts and Italy to transport migrants, this openly violates the law of the sea and international law. If an NGO ship flies, say, the German flag, there are two cases: either Germany recognizes and takes control, or it becomes a pirate ship, “the premier said.

The Italian Vice President and Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, for his part, supported the initiative and announced it they will close their ports to foreign NGOsjust like when he was Minister of the Interior (2018-2019).

Piantedosi, who was Salvini’s head of cabinet when he held the same position, confirmed that the law on safety will be applied and that therefore “the flag states (Germany and Norway) are competent for assistance, and therefore for welcoming “.

A fast moving right

Meloni, 45, head of the far-right party Brothers from Italy (FdI), took office just over two weeks ago amid suspicious sympathies for fascism. In his first speech in the Chamber of Deputies, the premier tried to detach himself from that image and denied any kind of inclination of this kind.

“I have never had sympathy for undemocratic ideologies, including fascism,” said Meloni, while praising the liberal-democratic regime and assuring that Italy would be “a reliable partner in Europe and the western military alliance, NATO“.

The situation with migrants adds, however, to the recent approval of a controversial decree sanctioning the unauthorized organization of electronic parties with sentences of up to 6 years in prison, a measure that its critics fear is the first advance against civil libertiesfor they fear him it extends to all kinds of manifestationsincluding the occupation of schools and universities as a protest.

The provision, recalled on the internet the party is overhas been criticized for the harshness of the sentences and for actually authorizing wiretapping, which In principle, it is used for very serious crimes.like the mafia or tax fraud.

Organizations such as Amnesty International Italia also intervened on the measure, believing that this law “risks having a wide, discretionary and arbitrary application to the detriment of the right to peaceful demonstration, which must be protected and not criticized”.

Clarín editorial staff, with information from Doctors Without Borders and the EFE and AFP agencies

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