At the end of their tragic odyssey, migrants stranded on humanitarian ships off Sicily by the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni literally risked their lives and threw themselves into the water.
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With his coalition, Fratelli d’Italia, the leader of the post-fascist party, has pledged to “protect the borders” of Italy by preventing NGO ships plying the Mediterranean from entering Italian ports to carry the thousands of migrants they rescue each year.
AFP
On Monday, three migrants jumped overboard from the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ship Geo Parents, which became embroiled in a standoff between NGOs patrolling the Mediterranean and the new Italian administration.
From the bridge of the rescue boats, the migrants see the Sicilian coast, unable to set foot on it.
AFP
All three were quickly rescued, according to MSF, which rescues migrants making the dangerous crossing between North Africa and Europe.
Shortly afterwards, an AFP journalist noted that a dozen migrants on the deck of the boat chanted “help us”.
According to Italy’s interior ministry, more than 88,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea since January 1.
Democratic Senator Antonio Nicita, again in a cave in Catania, acknowledges that “the situation is tense” among the humanitarian ships anchored in the Sicilian port.
“On the ships, anxiety reigns, activists calm the spirits. Many migrants undress in front of us and show their infections on their private parts,” he testified, referring to scabies.
AFP
Geo Parents arrived in Catania on Sunday evening and Italian authorities allowed 357 people, including children, to disembark, while denying entry to 215 others.
One of the migrants was evacuated by ambulance after complaining of severe abdominal pain, while others were increasingly vulnerable, MSF said on Monday.
“Their situation, their level of psychological stress is very, very high,” said Ricardo Gatti, head of MSF search and rescue.
“The ship has its limitations in terms of medical support,” he said.
AFP
The German-flagged ferry Humanity 1, carrying 144 people, was stranded far from port on Sunday. There was another 35-year-old male migrant on board who was denied permission to disembark.
An Italian government order issued on Friday says ships are allowed to dock in Italy only to the extent that passengers can be identified in “emergency situations”.
According to its operator, the charity SOS Humanity, Italian authorities concluded that the 35 men were in “good health” after a “brief” medical examination.
The ship’s captain, Joachim Ebeling, defied the order to leave the port, insisting on Monday that “everyone has the right to disembark in a safe port”. “I will not go anywhere with them,” he told reporters.
Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s new government, the most right-wing since World War II, has pledged to take a tougher stance on immigrants.
A few days after the installation, Interior Minister Matteo Piandosi considered that migrants on humanitarian relief ships were the responsibility of the state under whose flag the boats were sailing – in this case they were Norwegian and German.
Appeals against the government’s policy were submitted to courts in Rome and Catania on Monday, SOS Humanity said.
Amnesty International has urged Italy to stop discriminating against migrants. “The law of the sea is clear: a rescue ends when all rescued land safely.” Amnesty added that Italy was “violating its international obligations”.
In a statement, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) continued to urge “European governments to quickly provide safe haven and allow immediate disembarkation of the more than 600 survivors on the NGO ships”. .
Matteo Salvini, head of the Antimigrant League, who was prosecuted for blocking humanitarian ships at sea when he was interior minister in 2019, on Monday denounced “organized expeditions” that “finance arms and drugs”.
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