NGOs in revolt, between those who invoke the protection of their flag state and those who announce in the next few hours that they will return to sail in the Mediterranean to continue saving the shipwrecked migrants.
The anger of non-governmental organizations is mounting after the approval in the CDM of the decree which establishes a specific code of conduct with fines and confiscations for those who do not respect the new rules on rescues at sea: the Sea Eye labels it as "illegal" and asks " protection" to the German government while the ship Geo Barents of Médecins Sans Frontières will set sail from Augusta to sail again in the Mediterranean on New Year's Eve.
And the day after the approval of the provision, the Catholic world also condemned the legislative decree: "this decree will soon fall, in the sense that it is built on nothing",
thunders Monsignor Gian Carlo Perego, president of the CEI Commission for Migration, emphasizing: "it is paradoxical that an instrument which in recent years has provided security for at least 10% of the people who have landed in our country and in Europe", i.e. the ships of the NGOs, "is considered an instrument of insecurity".
According to the decree, ships will be able to transit and intervene only for rescue under the control and indications of the territorial authorities as well as being required to formalize the request for a safe port immediately after the first rescue operation, without stopping at sea for days .
Otherwise, there are penalties for the captain, the shipowner and the owner, up to 50 thousand euros, including the confiscation of the vessel, which must also have a "technical suitability"
for safe navigation.
The first ship that will land in Italy with the new provision already approved is the Ocean Viking of Sos Mediterranée, with 113 migrants on board, which has been assigned the port of Ravenna: the arrival is expected in the late morning of Saturday 31 December.
In those same hours the ship of another NGO, the Geo Barents of Médecins Sans Frontières, will set sail from Augusta: "the government's strategy - argue the activists - aims to hinder the search and rescue activities of the NGOs. But We will continue to save lives."
Sea-Eye also announces battle, explaining that "it will not follow any illegal code of conduct or any other official directive that violates international law or the laws - explains the NGO - of our flag state, in our case Germany.
We reject this so-called code and fear that this could lead to conflicts with the Italian authorities.
We expect the German government to protect us". Similar words from Emergency, which also recalls that "almost 1,400 people have lost their lives in the central Mediterranean this year" and "the consequences of this measure will be an increase in deaths at sea ". Equally critical is the Catholic newspaper Avvenire which in a front page editorial on the safety decree entitled "The other meaningless war", writes: "scroll down the list of government prescriptions it seems that humanitarian ships carry 'hazardous waste '".
