Europe wants to change the “law of the sea” to bring migrants back to Africa

International Maritime Law (the “law of the sea”) compels any vessel to rescue shipwrecked or persons in distress at sea because their vessel is unsafe and permits such vessel to disembark at the nearest safe port.

If a merchant ship rescues fishermen at sea, it brings them to port. If an NGO ship rescues migrants on a raft, it has the same right to take them to port. To the nearest safe port.

Those rescued in the Mediterranean departing from Libya or Tunisia They are brought to Europe because the United Nations does not consider these two North African countries safe for migrants and asylum seekers.

NGOs take advantage of this law to save every year thousands of people.

The European Commission, which has spent years looking for ways to stop the arrival of immigrants or asylum seekers, which pays transit governments to stop these people in their tracks, and which looks the other way when the United Nations agency for refugees publishes reports of violence, murder, rape or sale of immigrants into slavery in Libya, she always felt uncomfortable with those rescues and tried to avoid them.

never understood. When these people are already on NGO ships, the European Commission has no choice but to ask with a small mouth, that neighboring governments open their ports. The last rabbit that the European Executive has pulled out of the hat even involves the United Nations.

New rules, tailored

The European Commission believes so new rules are needed so that NGOs have a defined framework in which to work. The European Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johansson of Sweden, said on Monday that the Commission has no offer about it, but the same day he published a paper with a long list of proposals.

Johansson argues that the European Union should sit down and talk to the International Maritime Organisation, the United Nations agency which regulates offshore activities. So that? According to that document, have operational guidance for NGO vessels that rescue shipwrecked people at sea.

The proposal goes above all to end part of the anger that is generated every time he asks for a boat with migrants disembark in Italy or Malta.

If during Mario Draghi’s mandate they continued to arrive without further problems, discussions have returned with the new head of government, Giorgia Meloni.

So far this year, 90,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean, a 50% increase from 2021. Only 15% arrive on NGO ships. Most are rescued by the Italian coastguard, who continue to save lives at sea despite their government’s rhetoric.

If the law changes so that relief is landed at the nearest port regardless of whether it is a safe haven? Johansson did not say. But he said it is necessary to talk to the International Maritime Organization because, he argues, “the situation today with private (NGO) vessels operating at sea is a scenario that Lack of clarity”.

the law is clear: Every civil ship has the right to disembark in the safe port closest to the people it rescues at sea. It is so simple that it can hardly be distorted. That is why the Italian Justice (the cases have also reached the Cassation) has always sided with those ships when the minister Matteo Salvini tried to block them.

The International Maritime Search and Rescue Convention (1979) states that a safe harbor is one in which the life of the rescued person is not in danger and where you can get basic help such as food, water or shelter. Italy, Malta, Spain, France, Greece meet these conditions. Libya no.

Brussels, special for Clarin​

ap​