The disembarkation operations from the Geo Barents of Doctors Without Borders have begun in the port of Taranto, which arrived this morning in the Puglia port with 85 migrants on board, including nine unaccompanied minors. Four migrants will be taken to hospital, but their conditions are not serious. The ship is the first of an NGO to have operated a rescue since the entry into force of the decree establishing a new code of conduct on sea rescue activities by non-governmental organizations. In the event of violation of the rules introduced by the provision, fines of up to 50 thousand euros are envisaged, in addition to seizure or even confiscation in case of recurrence.
Among the “conditions” dictated by the decree is that of “promptly launching initiatives aimed at informing the persons taken on board of the possibility of requesting international protection and, in case of interest, at collecting the relevant data to be made available to the authorities “: a way to address the request for hospitality directly to the country whose flag the ship flies.
The Geo Barents carried out a first rescue at the request of the Maritime Rescue Coordinationrecovering 41 people and then having another 44 boarded in a subsequent transhipment from a merchant ship, again at the request of the Italian authorities. The vessel then headed for another rescue destination after Alarm Phone reported a vessel in distress, but she found nothing. Among the migrants on board the Geo Barents there is also a boy who has
told rescuers that he had witnessed the murder of people who didn’t have enough money to pay for the trip.
“We rule out the seizure of the Geo Barents, there is no valid reason. We are spending more money on lawyers than on search and rescue. It is a paradox, it is ridiculous. We are saving lives and we are consulting with lawyers to challenge any measures , each new rule to see if this is in line with the legislation, even international”, says Juan Matias Gil, head of mission of Médecins Sans Frontières, present in the port of Taranto. Gil points out that “the assistance was requested and coordinated by the Italian authorities. Therefore, there is no reason for the seizure and for any type of sanction”. On the Geo Barents “no request for political asylum was signed, because no request is filled out on the boat. The refugees were informed about their rights” and “they decide later whether to do so and whether to present a request to the Police Headquarters, then we will see the outcome,” added Gil.
The premier, Giorgia Meloni, has returned to the measure in these hours, who writes on Instagram: “Italy is over, which rages against those who respect the rules and pretends not to see those who systematically violate them”. International law – commented the Prime Minister – “does not provide that there is someone who can make the ferry in the Mediterranean or in any other sea and go back and forth to transfer people from one nation to another”.
Meanwhile, another 119 migrants have landed since last midnight in Lampedusa. Three small boats rescued by the Guardia di Finanza and the Port Authority which, after the transfer
of refugees, have been left adrift. Yesterday, with 12 different boats, 463 people arrived instead. There were 39 on the first punt, including two minors and 12
women, from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Senegal and Congo. On the second there were 36 people, including a minor and five women, originally from Liberia, Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast. Same nationalities as the 33, including four minors and 14 women, who were on the third vessel. All the small boats rescued yesterday and during the night appear to have set sail from Sfax in Tunisia, except one which would have left from Zawiya in Libya.
Migrants, Meloni: ‘Here are the new rules, no more commuting with smugglers’
In the event of violation of the rules introduced by the provision, fines of up to 50 thousand euros are envisaged, in addition to seizure or even confiscation in the event of recurrence. Among the “conditions” dictated by the decree is that of “promptly launching initiatives aimed at informing the persons taken on board of the possibility of requesting international protection and, in case of interest, at collecting the relevant data to be made available to the authorities “: a way to address the request for hospitality directly to the country whose flag the ship flies.
The first boat of an NGO to dock with the decree in force is the Geo Barents of Doctors Without Borders, which carried out a first rescue at the request of the Maritime Rescue Coordination, recovering 41 people and then bringing another 44 on board in a subsequent transfer from a merchant ship, again at the request of the Italian authorities. The Geo Barents then headed for a further rescue destination after Alarm Phone reported a vessel in distress, but she reportedly found no boats or any survivors. “As we have always done, the MSF team on board gave the survivors all the UNHCR materials to apply for asylum,” explains the humanitarian organization. In the next few hours the ship will be at the port of Taranto. Among those who will descend on the Apulian city, also the witnesses of chilling scenes: “A boy told us that he saw with his own eyes people being killed in front of him because they didn’t have enough money to pay for the trip”, said Fulvia Conte, rescue manager on board the Geo Barents, underlining that “this is the reality of what is happening in Libya, of what is happening in the central Mediterranean where every moment is important between life and death”.
Other rescues were carried out in the space of a few hours off the coast of Sicily, where a fishing boat carrying about 546 migrants was intercepted and rescued by patrol boats of the Coast Guard and the Guardia di Finanza about 26 miles off the coast of Syracuse. The castaways were transhipped onto Italian vessels and transferred to the ports of Messina (196), Catania (198) and Roccella Ionica (152). After about two hours, after a rescue operation at sea carried out about 20 miles away from the Ionian coast of Reggio by the Guardia di Finanza, another 78 refugees arrived at the Rocciallo seaport. Other arrivals had taken place in Lampedusa shortly before: 198 landed in Lampedusa and the Italian patrol boats again rescued the five small boats. The island’s hotspot remains overloaded and at least two hundred transfers have been arranged.
There are not only Mediterranean routes. An exponential increase in the number of migrants entering the Trieste border alone, from 1,194 in the last three months of 2021 to 5,690 in the same period in 2022, according to data released by the Prefect of Trieste. The numbers include the tracings of immigrants who entered Italy illegally and those who spontaneously presented themselves to the police forces once they entered the national territory.
