403 Migrants Rescued from Sea Granted Permission to Enter Italy

The Italian government has allowed migrant rescue boats to bring 403 migrants into the country after days of waiting. Germany and France will accept some of these migrants. A far-right party in Italy opposes this decision.

The Italian government has finally permitted a rescue ship carrying hundreds of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea to dock and disembark its passengers.

According to Reuters reporting from Rome, this permission was granted today, the 8th of Bahman (January 28), following the approval of European governments that are seeking to address the relocation and distribution of sea-rescued migrants.

The European Union faces challenges with sea-rescued migrants. The influx of these migrants arriving by sea to European territory, particularly Italy, has encountered strong opposition from parties opposed to refugee acceptance policies in Italy.

According to an official from Italy’s Interior Ministry, Germany and France are expected to accept some of the 403 rescued migrants. Meanwhile, Ireland and Luxembourg have also been asked to accept some of these migrants.

The 403 migrants whose case was decided today were rescued by the ship Ocean Viking. This ship operates under the supervision of the French non-governmental organization SOS Méditerranée.

Officials from this NGO stated that the rescued individuals include 38 women and 149 minors who will be transferred to the city of Taranto in southern Italy.

230 additional migrants on two other rescue ships are awaiting transfer to a safe port in Italy or Malta.

Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s far-right “League” party who served as Interior Minister of the Italian government in 2018, has opposed this decision and condemned the acceptance of these migrants in Italy.

He described the 500 percent increase in migrant arrivals in January of this year as “madness” and wrote on Twitter: “Those who allow this to happen have their hands in the same pot.”

Mr. Salvini stated during his time as Deputy Prime Minister in 2018 that he was examining “action against migrant rescue organizations.” He had even accused these organizations of colluding with human smugglers.

However, Luciana Lamorgese, Italy’s Interior Minister, unlike Salvini who was once Italy’s Interior Minister, maintains better relations with her European partners as well as with charitable migrant rescue organizations.

Italy’s Interior Ministry announced that regardless of the number of migrants rescued by the Ocean Viking ship, approximately 870 migrants entered Italy by sea during January of this year. This number was around 155 migrants in 2019.

In recent weeks, with escalating conflicts in Libya, the rate of migration from that country has increased.

In September 2019, interior ministers from five European Union member states agreed on a new plan aimed at distributing sea-rescued migrants and stated they would work to reduce pressure on southern European countries, including Italy.

Based on last year’s report from Italy’s Interior Ministry, other European Union member states proposed accepting approximately 80 percent of “eligible relocatable” migrants.

Source: DW