Migrants: NGOs criticize the closure of ports in Italy

NGOs helping migrants in the Mediterranean have strongly criticized the Italian authorities' decision to close ports to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The Interior Ministry decided Tuesday evening that Italy could no longer be considered a safe haven for the duration of the pandemic.

Read also: Coronavirus: Italy closes its ports to migrants

This means that migrants rescued at sea by these non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can no longer disembark in the country. This decision comes a month after the general confinement decided by the authorities, to fight against the coronavirus in the European country most affected by the epidemic.

"Those who risk losing their breath by drowning"

French NGOs Médecins sans frontières (MSF), SOS Méditerranée, the German Sea-Watch and the Spanish Open Arms have accused Rome of using the coronavirus crisis as a pretext to close the country when asylum seekers arrive asylum.

" At a time like this, the suffering of citizens affected by a health crisis cannot be a reason to deny all support (...) to those who risk losing their breath not in an intensive care unit, but by drowning, ”write these NGOs. " All lives must be saved, all fragile people must be protected, both on land and at sea. It is possible and necessary to do so, " they added.

A ship looking for a port

The four NGOs signatory to this text stress that they have all made available to the Italian health authorities personnel and resources to fight against the coronavirus, and that opening ports to the shipwrecked was a " legal obligation ". According to the Interior Ministry, some 3,000 migrants have landed in Italy since the start of the year.

Read also: Migrants: the number of arrivals in Italy by sea down by 50% in 2019

Departures from Libya are expected to be more frequent in the coming weeks, while the armed conflict is bogging down there and the weather is more favorable. The ship Alan Kurdi, chartered by the NGO Sea Eye, is still looking for a port to disembark 150 people, including a pregnant woman, rescued off Libya on Monday.