Italian authorities let 500 migrants off charity rescue ships

Italian authorities let 500 migrants off charity rescue ships despite country’s new far right regime led by Giorgia Melonia vowing to crack down on Mediterranean people smuggling

• Two vessels docked in Italy today, carrying migrants who had been rescued
• Italian government has vowed to take a tough stance on allowing in migrants 
• Aid groups argue law calls for people rescued at sea to be taken to closest port

Two European aid groups have today brought around 500 migrants into Italian ports on rescue vessels.

The would-be refugees disembarked onto Italian soil despite the government’s vow for tougher measures against against migrant smuggling operations from North Africa. 

The Humanity 1, operated by the German aid group SOS Humanity, arrived in the port at Bari with 261 people aboard, all of whom had been rescued from the Mediterranean.  

SOS Humanity said in a statement that they endured a rough journey that included three-meter (12-foot) waves and that the group’s request for a closer port went unheeded.  

500 migrants disembarked at the Italian ports of Bari and Salerno on rescue vessels today 

The arrivals came despite the Italian government’s right-wing anti-immigration policies 

Also disembarking today were 248 people on the Geo Berents, a vessel chartered by French aid group Doctors Without Borders, which pulled into port in Salerno, near Naples.

Head of the mission Juan Matias Gil said: ‘They are happy and relieved, satisfied, and so are we.’

The disembarkations followed Friday’s arrival of the Louise Michel in Lampedusa, Sicily where 33 people disembarked from the vessel funded and decorated by street artist Banksy.  

The new government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose allies campaigned on tough anti-immigrant policies, has tried to remain tough against aid groups that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi initially tried to impose a policy allowing only ‘vulnerable’ migrants to disembark in Italian ports, also insisting that the countries where the rescue vessels come from should take the rest in. 

The Humanity 1, operated by the German aid group SOS Humanity, arrived in the port at Bari with 261 people aboard

The migrants on board the Humanity 1 had been rescued from the Mediterranean by aid workers

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi initially tried to impose a policy allowing only ‘vulnerable’ migrants to disembark in Italian ports

This was not a policy welcomed by other countries and last month France took a stand, resulting in Paris suspending its participation in a refugee relocation system.

In a note this weekend, Italian interior ministry officials insisted that the government wasn’t backing down but was doing its duty to save lives in the face of worsening weather conditions at sea.

‘Saving lives will always guide the government’s decisions, even with provocative and risky actions by NGOs,’ the statement said.

The government has accused aid groups of incentivising illegal migration and rewarding human traffickers, who charge hundreds of euros for dangerous crossing from Libya. 

The groups, however, deny their rescue operations encourage migration and insist they are necessary to save lives.

Aid groups and legal experts have argued that Piantedosi’s policy violates international law and maritime conventions, which call for people rescued at sea to be taken to the closest port of safety as soon as possible.

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