Italian vessel returns migrants to Libya – NGOs furious
Open-border activists are furious because for the first time since 2009, an Italian ship has returned migrants picked up at sea to a Libyan port. But Italy's Interior Minister is smiling.
Published: August 3, 2018, 6:14 pm
The NGOs trafficking the migrants to Europe are not happy about the Italian decision and neither are international bodies.
Matteo Salvini, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister confirmed early on Tuesday that the Libyan coastguard had rescued and returned 611 migrants.
“The NGOs are protesting and the human traffickers are losing their business? Good, we’ll continue like this!’, Salvini noted in a Facebook update, dotted with smiley face emojis.
He said the Italian coastguard had neither coordinated nor participated in the operation, in spite of claims by a “foreign NGO” and an “ill informed left-wing deputy”.
An Italian left-wing deputy, Nicola Fratoianni, is currently at sea on the Mediterranean with Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms. Fratoianni had claimed that the Italian coastguard could have been involved in Monday’s operation.
The management of Libya’s SAR (Search And Rescue) zone has been the responsibility of the Libyan navy since June this year. The zone in question extends beyond the country’s territorial waters, to include the maritime area where traffickers and NGOs meet to exchange cargo which is then transported to ports on the European coast.
The UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) will lead an enquiry into Monday’s events, when an Italian registered supply ship rescued 108 migrants from a vessel at sea. All the migrants aboard were returned to Tripoli on the instruction of the Libyan navy.
“We are collecting all the necessary information on the case of the Italian tug, Asso Ventotto, which reportedly took back 108 people rescued in the Mediterranean to Libya,” UNHCR Italia tweeted on Tuesday. “Libya is not a safe haven and this act could result in an infringement of international law.”
French NGO Watch the Med – AlarmPhone on Monday evening expressed their “outrage” because this is the “first push-back in years” by an Italian boat.
Berlin-based NGO, Sea Watch said they were “shocked” by events. “Yesterday, the Italian ship Asso Ventotto brought rescued persons back to Libya in violation of the Geneva Convention on Refugees and the European Convention on Human Rights.”
The group wants the EU to evacuate the migrants to Europe pending a legal decision from the European Court of Human Rights.
The Council of Europe had stated earlier that “no European ship can bring migrants back to Libya because it is contrary to our principles”.
The owners of the Italian vessel confirmed the rescue mission close to an oil and gas platform some 57 nautical miles from Tripoli, and added that the operation was coordinated by the Libyan coastguard.
“I promised to defend the borders, I am doing it with all the energies and means that are possible to me,” Salvini tweeted on Monday, reminding voters that his anti-immigration policies are showing results.
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