At Least 170 Migrants Rescued 100Km From Malta By Italian Coastguard
At least 170 people have been rescued by the Italian coastguard just 100km away from Malta’s shores.
Migrant NGO Alarm Phone received a distress call yesterday reporting a vessel in difficulty near Malta and Ragusa, Sicily.
The vessel requested the assistance of the the Italian Coast Guard, with the 170 migrants reportedly taken in to Augusta, Sicily, province of Syracuse.
We can confirm the rescue of the boat carrying approximately 170 people in distress to #Augusta in Italy!
— Alarm Phone (@alarm_phone) January 2, 2023
The rescue comes after a new contentious law on rescues at sea in Italy comes into effect.
“The decree, issued on Dec. 28, 2022, directly targets civil sea rescue organisations and explicitly names ships that systematically or not only occasionally conduct search and rescue operations as the scope of application. It includes administrative sanctions ranging from fines up to €50,000, detention of the vessel, to seizure and confiscation of the ship.”
“Among other things, the decree requires civil rescue organisations to request a safe port immediately after an initial rescue and proceed to that safe port without delay. However, if civil rescue vessels are forced into a port after the first rescue has been completed while more people are in distress at sea, this violates every captain’s duty to rescue, which is enshrined in international law. Failure to do so is a punishable offence.”
The law was criticised by rescue vessels and activists.
“The Italian government’s new decree is a call to let people drown. Forcing ships into port violates the duty to rescue should there be more people in distress at sea. We will also resist this attempt to criminalise civil sea rescue and deprive people on the move of their rights,” says Oliver Kulikowski, spokesperson for Sea-Watch.
Italy’s right wing government, headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, contends that EU relocation policy for migrants was not working for Italy which was being left to shoulder too great a burden.
Meloni said the EU relocation policy for migrants was not working for Italy which was being left to shoulder too great a burden.
“I don’t think it’s a solution to say that Italy should be the only port of disembarkation in the EU and then for every 100,000 people who come in, other countries take 30.”
“I do not think Italy should do alone what others are not willing to do.”
But other EU states are also under pressure from migration via other routes.
In September alone, France received around 15,000 asylum applications, Germany almost 21,000, Austria around 15,700 and Spain more than 11,000 compared to 8,500 for Italy, data from EU statistics agency Eurostat shows.
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