The NGO SOS Méditerranée, whose ambulance ship Ocean Viking rescued 95 migrants off Libya on Wednesday, denounced on Friday January 27 the decision of the Italian authorities to disembark them "
1,500 kilometers
" from the rescue zone.
"
The Italian authorities have assigned the Ocean Viking to the port of Carrara in Italy for the disembarkation of the 95 survivors
", including 20 women and 38 minors, of whom 33 are unaccompanied, said the NGO based in Marseille.
Ensuring their health and safety
"
Carrara is located 1,500 km from the area of operation, which involves a three-day navigation and exposes women, men and children to waves, rain, wind and cold
", he said. she insisted in an email, noting that "
according to the law, the disembarkation of people rescued at sea must be organized as soon as possible to guarantee their health and safety
".
Read alsoIncreasingly strong, migratory pressure puts France up against the wall
In a series of tweets on Thursday, the NGO Doctors Without Borders, whose ship Geo Barents picked up 237 migrants off the coast of Libya, also denounced the designation by the Italian authorities of a remote port, La Spezia, near Genoa. , to land them there.
NGOs against the Italian government
In early January, several international NGOs involved in rescue operations for migrants in the Mediterranean denounced the desire of the far-right Italian government "
to hinder assistance to people in distress
" by a decree obliging ships to surrender "
without delay
" to an Italian port after each rescue.
They denounce in use the fact that these ports are very far from the rescue zones, imposing long delays, which reduces the assistance capacities, already hampered by the prohibition to chain several rescues in a row.
The government of Giorgia Meloni came to power in October promising to stop the arrival of migrants in Italy, which saw more than 105,000 in 2022 by sea, according to the Italian Ministry of the Interior.
Last figures
According to local media, migrants rescued and disembarked by NGOs represented around 12% of the total in 2022, most being taken care of by the Italian navy or coast guard.
According to the latest figures from the Italian Interior Ministry, 4,459 migrants landed in Italy between January 1 and 26 this year, compared to 2,074 for the same period in 2022 and 872 still over the same period in 2021.
The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The UN agency estimates that in 2022, 1,377 migrants disappeared there.
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