Italy shuts ports to rescue boat with 629 people on board.

queeranarchism:

The rescue vessel Aquarius, of humanitarian group SOS Méditerranée ,

rescued 629 people in distress today, June 11th 2018, but was not allowed to disembark
them in Italy. Those on the Aquarius included 123 unaccompanied minors, 11
other children and seven pregnant women.

Entry was refused by order of the new interior minister, and proto-fascist,
Salvini. The mayors of Naples, Palermo, Messina and Reggio Calabria declared their harbours open for the rescued, but this was impossible to carry out without the support of the Italian coastguard, which remained loyal to the Italian state.

The Maltese government rejected a request to take in the boat, saying
international law required that the refugees and migrants be taken to
Italian ports.

Aquarius continued to Spain, there it was allowed to enter the port, but the event sets a dangerous precedent and Salvini has already announced that it will turn away other rescue ships of NGOs. If refusing entry to ships carrying refugees continues it
could threaten the ability to NGOs to carry out humanitarian rescue operations at sea.

Sources:

• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/10/italy-shuts-ports-to-rescue-boat-with-629-migrants-on-board
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/11/un-calls-for-migrant-ship-to-be-allowed-to-dock-in-italian-port

Italy has since denied two more boats entry: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/16/italy-bars-two-more-refugee-ships-from-ports

NGO boats are a vital lifeline, rescuing more than 88,000 people in the past two years. That’s 120 people PER DAY, or one life saved every 12 minutes. The work these boats do is amazing. They are probably the biggest fucking heroes of this decade.

Italy’s refusal to let the boats enter the port directly impacts their ability to rescue refugees. As a result boats will need to spend hours or days trying to bring the refugees to other ports, time they can not spend on rescue missions. And if other countries copy Italy’s stand, it could risk the conntinuation of rescue at sea entirely.

This is murder by politics, pure and simple.

Want to do something? Support:

• Watch the Med http://www.watchthemed.net
• Mission Lifeline https://mission-lifeline.de/
• SeaWatch https://sea-watch.org/
• Sea-Eye and Seefuchs  https://sea-eye.org/en/