The Italian government defended this Tuesday that the law that limits the operation of migrant rescue boats used by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has nothing to do with shipwrecks like the one that killed more than 60 people on Sunday.
The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, affirmed that the decree of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) “is very necessary because, in a context of numerical growth, the percentage of landings on our coasts by naval means of NGOs has decreased considerably and no there is a relationship between the new regulations and the possible increase in deaths at sea”.
“Those who establish a connection between the sinking of the Cutro [Steccato di Cutro, na região da Calábria] and the new regulation are telling falsehoods, either out of ignorance or bad faith, since it is a path that NGOs have never taken”, said the minister, in an interview published today in the newspaper “Corrière della Sera”.
Piantedosi also assured that everything possible was done to try to rescue, but the sea conditions were terrible.
The boat, in which, according to the survivors, some 200 people were traveling, broke up upon reaching the coastal area at a time when there were strong waves and so far 63 bodies have been recovered and 82 survivors have been rescued, mainly from Afghanistan. , Pakistan and Iran.
“About 100 people lost their lives, although we never know the exact number,” a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told Efe.
The far-right Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, revealed on Monday night, in a television interview, that she had sent a letter to the European Commission “so that what was discussed at the last European Council can be immediately specified.” and insisted that it was “a falsehood” that the new decree on NGOs had anything to do with those killed in the sinking.
The decree introduces a series of sanctions for humanitarian organizations that do not comply with the rules, such as requesting, immediately after a rescue, the assignment of the port of disembarkation and arriving without delay at the port indicated by the authorities, without deviating from the route.
This rule, together with the allocation of ports far from the rescue zone, means that, as happened over the weekend, there are no humanitarian ships in the central Mediterranean, although NGOs are not usually on the so-called “Turkish route”.
“I think the message should be clear: those who are fleeing a war should not trust unscrupulous traffickers, it should be the responsible and supportive policies of the States that offer a way out of their drama”, added Piantedosi in the “Corriere della Sera”. ”.
After the tragedy, the minister had assured that “desperation cannot justify travel conditions that endanger the lives of children”, statements that aroused controversy and led the progressive Democratic Party (PD) to ask the minister for explanations.
“Unworthy words spoken with unbearable pomposity,” said Accion’s leader, centrist Carlo Calenda.
The new general secretary of the PD, Elly Schlein, assured that the tragedy “must weigh heavily on the conscience of those who just a few days ago approved a decree that prevents rescues at sea, when legal routes of entry to Europe would be necessary.” .
Source: TSF
