The Doctors Without Borders (Doctors Without Borders) ships, SOS Mediterranee and SOS Humanity, have been at sea for more than a week, carrying almost 1,000 people in total. Italy’s new right-wing government acknowledged receipt of their disembarkation requests, but did not give the green light for them to enter the port. “The last request was made yesterday afternoon, but we have not received any response,” Riccardo Gatti, head of the Médecins Sans Frontières team in Geo Barents, told Al Jazeera via video. Similar requests forwarded to the Maltese government were not accepted. Gatti said on Saturday that the Geo Barents entered Italian waters to seek shelter from an oncoming storm, carrying 572 people, including an 11-month-old and three pregnant women. MSF media adviser Candida Lobes said water is being rationed and food supplies are also dwindling. Due to overcrowding, respiratory and skin infections were also spreading. “The situation is simply unacceptable,” Lobbs said.
International obligations
The European maritime humanitarian organization SOS Mediterranee called on the authorities to comply with international obligations and provide a predictable disembarkation system. “Survivors rescued from peril at sea should no longer be traded in political debates,” the organization said in a statement on Thursday. Elisa Brivio, press officer at SOS Mediterranee, told Al Jazeera that 234 people were on board the Ocean Viking, including 40 unaccompanied minors. “Not everyone can sleep below deck, we prioritize women and children,” Brivio said. “The others are sleeping outside and yesterday we set up some protective tents to protect them from the winds and the storm.” Among those rescued, many bear the marks of torture and ill-treatment. Till Rummenhohl, head of operations at SOS Humanity, said the 179 people on Humanity 1 “fled from detention camps in Libya, where they faced great violence”. If no country offers safe haven, they may be pushed into international waters. “[This] it would be a clear violation of international law and the Geneva Convention,” Rummenhohl told Al Jazeera. “It is their human right to apply for asylum and seek safety.”
Italy’s far-right government
Italy last month formed its first far-right government since the end of World War II, with Giorgia Meloni becoming the first woman to serve as prime minister. Rome has insisted that the countries whose flags fly these NGO boats should be held responsible for the migrants and refugees on board. The Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking and Geo Barents and the German-flagged Humanity 1 were not allowed to dock, while Italian patrols, including one with 456 people that arrived in Calabria on Thursday, were allowed to disembark. Italy’s new interior minister, Matteo Piadendozzi, told local media that the government intended to give flag-flying countries a “direct message”. “We cannot bear the burden of migrants being picked up at sea by foreign ships operating systematically without any coordination with local authorities,” he said. Piantedosi drew up new measures, arguing that the non-governmental groups violated the process by not properly coordinating their rescues, a step that set the stage for Italy to close the ports. Charities have denied circumventing procedures and say it is their duty to rescue people in danger at sea. The German embassy this week urged Italy to provide rapid aid, saying the NGO ships had made a significant contribution to saving lives at sea. Norway has said it bears no responsibility under human rights conventions or the law of the sea to people who board private Norwegian-flagged ships. According to the UN refugee agency, coastal states such as Italy and Malta are obliged to accept people from rescue boats “as soon as possible” and governments should work together to provide a place of safety for survivors. “It is frankly absurd that the governments of Italy and Malta have not yet offered them a place of safety,” Matteo De Bellis, asylum and migration researcher at Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera. “This incident marks a step backwards by the Italian authorities, especially since the new government is resurrecting policies that we have already seen implemented in 2018 and 2019,” De Bellis added, referring to a “closed ports” policy implemented by the then Interior Minister and far-right leader Matteo Salvini. “These policies have been and continue to violate international law,” he said. “It is clear that European states must share responsibility for providing assistance to people in need, but it is equally clear that Italy and Malta must work together in good faith to ensure that people rescued at sea are provided a place of safety’.