Government Refuses Ships That Rescue Migrants
(Daily360.com) – Four ships recently scoured the Mediterranean sea, rescuing distressed migrants. These vessels have historically brought their newly acquired passengers into port at coastal nations so the people could receive care and start asylum procedures. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s newly established government seems to have a different idea about what should happen at the harbor.
On November 6, Italian officials ordered one of the boats, Humanity 1, to leave the Catania port without allowing the vessel to disembark its entire migrant population. The captain refused to comply “until all survivors” were allowed to leave. A second ship run by Doctors Without Borders was left with hundreds onboard after the government blocked the occupants from departing the boat.
Under Giorgia Meloni, Italy is refusing safe port to 4 ships that rescue migrants https://t.co/UHxfHPsx34
— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) November 7, 2022
Only migrants on the two ships already in Catana’s port who were deemed “vulnerable” were allowed to leave. The rescuers claimed everyone aboard fit that category.
The two other humanitarian groups weren’t even allowed in port but remained on the water with all rescued migrants still on the ships. Many of the passengers were reportedly sick and in need of care, with overcrowding on the vessel creating a problem with sleeping arrangements, food, and medicine.
Italian lawmaker Aboubakar Soumahoro said the people trapped on the water and rescued by the activists had been through enough already. He said there were no translators on board to help communicate with the passengers, and their only crimes were speaking the wrong language and being “another color.”
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