The Italian coastguard has assigned successive rescues to NGOs in international waters between Tunisia and Sicily in recent weeks, violating an Italian governmental decree which stipulates only one rescue can be performed before disembarkation.
The Italian decree, approved at the end of 2022, requires vessels belonging to NGOs to conduct only one rescue of migrants in distress at sea at a time, after which they must immediately proceed to the port of disembarkation assigned by the interior ministry. Failure to adhere to the regime can lead to the vessel being impounded.
The journey from the rescue site to the point of disembarkation often takes several days of navigation, in effect limiting the boat’s availability to carry out search and rescue operations.
While the decree itself does not specify the location of the disembarkation port, since January 2023 the interior ministry has frequently assigned ports that are far away, extending the amount of time the boats are out of action, according to NGOs.
However, according to the international law, when a boat is found in distress at sea, it is the duty of the nearer vessel to perform (or assist) a rescue and disembark survivors in the closer place of safety.
In recent weeks, the Italian coastguard has assigned multiple rescue cases to NGOs in the channel between the Tunisian city of Sfax and the Italian island of Lampedusa, an area usually well-patrolled by the Italian coastguard. In contrast, around the coasts facing Libya, there is a heavy presence of the Libyan coastguard and other militias which frequently perform interceptions of migrant boats.
The Doctors Without Borders NGO boat Geo Barents performed 12 rescues in international waters between Tunisia and Sicily last weekend, rescuing a total of 462 people.
On 11 July, the SOS Humanity boat rescued multiple boats and 204 people in the same area.
All operations were coordinated by the Italian coastguard, in contradiction with the Italian decree on NGOs which states that after one rescue, the boat that performed it has to immediately go to an assigned port of disembarkation before it can head out again.
Arrivals from Tunisia have increased significantly in recent months. In the last week alone, roughly 6,500 boats arrived in Italy, according to data from the Italian interior ministry.
Long distances to travel to disembark
The assigned ports of disembarkation are often several days of navigation from the place where the rescue was performed.
The ministry of the interior assigned Geo Barents the central Italian port of Livorno as the place of disembarkation, while SOS Humanity was instructed to go to the port of Ancona – 1,400 km from the rescue, which corresponds to three days of transit.
Most NGOs have boats that, at full speed, cannot go more than 11-14 knots per hour.
In one of the emails about the assignment seen by EURACTIV, the Italian coastguard specified that the Ministry of Interior makes the decision on the location of the disembarkation port. The Italian coastguard is under the command of the military navy.
NGOs have condemned the practice of assigning distant ports of disembarkation and a group of five of them submitted a complaint to the European Commission on 13 July pointing to the lack of compliance of the Italian decree with international law.
The Ocean Viking crew told EURACTIV that the consequences of the decree mean less time spent patrolling the area of possible targets (and therefore fewer rescues), and a major increase of the overall costs of each mission.
Fuel costs have more than tripled from roughly €500,000 in 2021 to around €1.2 million in 2022 and around €2 million forecast for 2023, the Ocean Viking crew told EURACTIV, citing the increased fuel prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a large increase in distances covered to go to the places of disembarkation and return to the area of operations.
Between January and June 2023, the Ocean Viking covered 60% more distance compared to the same period in 2022 – 14,379 nautical miles, compared to 9,023 nautical miles.
According to data from the Italian Interior Ministry, NGOs rescued 7% of the total people who disembarked in Italy in 2023, while in the same period last year, the percentage was 18%.
[Edited by Benjamin Fox/Nathalie Weatherald]
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Source: euractiv.com
