Migrant NGOs say govt strategy is to exclude us from sea rescues

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 12 - The NGOS that operate in the Mediterranean to save migrants heading for Italy and Europe on Thursday said the Italian government's new anti-immigration package envisaging a sort of 'naval blockade' was aimed at excluding them from sea rescues after previous moves had already greatly hampered their efforts. The government's strategy to exclude NGOs from sea rescue in the Mediterranean has entered a new chapter," said a joint statement from Alarm Phone, Emergency, Doctors Without Borders, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Open Arms, ResQ People Saving People, Sea-Watch, and SOS Humanity - SOS Mediterrané on the immigration bill approved by cabinet Wednesday night. "After the Piantedosi Law and the Flows Decree, the Meloni government has introduced another crackdown on civilian rescue in the Mediterranean. "A set of measures that are not aimed at managing the flow of people on the move, but at targeting and blocking humanitarian vessels, resulting in an increase in the number of those who lose their lives at sea." "The bill that will be submitted to Parliament," the NGOs argue, "risks making Italy the first country to adopt the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum, marking a serious setback in the protection of fundamental rights." The associations argue that the new rules "accelerate border and repatriation procedures, expand the list of so-called 'safe countries of origin,' which also includes Egypt and Tunisia, and facilitate the transfer of asylum seekers to third countries even without real ties. "The result is a restriction of the right to asylum and the risk of exposing many people to persecution and inhumane treatment." The NGOs recall the measures already in place: "operational limitations, mandatory returns after a single rescue, systematic assignment of distant ports, and sanctions against those who provide assistance," and now they emphasize the arrival of "a ban of up to six months after entering territorial waters. "This measure violates international law and rescue conventions, calling into question the mandatory obligation to save human lives. "The naval blockade is intended for vaguely defined cases and therefore subject to broad discretion: if applied, it will result in less protection, more suffering for shipwrecked people, and fewer ships ready to intervene at sea. "We find it unacceptable," they add, "that the government considers people at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean and those attempting to save them a threat to national security." They believe that "these rules do not make the country safer. What endangers the rule of law is the government that chooses to suspend legality in cities and at sea, to limit the right to asylum, and to criminalize protesters and lifesavers." However, the NGOs assure that "they will continue to operate in compliance with international law to provide assistance and save lives, without turning a blind eye. "This is the same ambition that Europe and its member states should have, without exception." (ANSA). Read article...

By ANSA