Clash between NGOs and the government over the Mediterranea: "Laws must be respected."

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First mission, first arrest. Mediterranea , the brand new vessel of the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans , was seized in the port of Trapani in response to a protest by refusing to follow the Interior Ministry's instructions during a rescue operation. This action was defined as "disobedience," as announced today by the NGO's head of mission, Beppe Caccia. The ship had rescued ten shipwrecked people approximately 30 nautical miles off the Libyan coast on August 21st. Among those rescued were three minors, all delivered "from a military-style dinghy, which immediately sped away," as the NGO reported. On Saturday night, the Interior Ministry directed Mediterranea to the port of Genoa for disembarkation, a distance considered excessive by the NGO team. “The attempt to force the disembarkation in Genoa was made without the Ministry of the Interior taking the slightest account of the difficult psychological and physical conditions of the ten survivors,” read the statement from Mediterranea, which at that point decided to ignore the ministry’s instructions and head towards Trapani.

The current rules on port assignments after rescue operations are dictated by Decree 1/2023, the so-called Piantedosi Decree . In the name of this measure, NGOs complain, disembarkation operations are being imposed in ports far from where rescue operations were carried out. The intent, they say, is to discourage rescues. The decision has prompted a reaction from the left, which also cited the case of the Ocean Viking, which earlier today was targeted by gunfire from a Libyan patrol boat during a rescue operation. "We ask the government what it intends to do, but we fear knowing the answer: nothing. Because they are the same people who escorted the criminal Almasri home," attacked Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein. "We are faced with an obscenity," added Nicola Fratoianni of AVS. On the other hand, there are state laws that must be respected, say members of the Brothers of Italy party. "The administrative detention of the Mediterranea ship was carried out in compliance with the Piantedosi decree, passed by the Meloni government to combat illegal immigration. Laws must be respected," reads a statement from the Brothers of Italy.

The bone of contention remains the interpretation of international law regarding what technically constitutes the term "place of safety." For the government, the concept is open to interpretation and, above all, should be calibrated to the actual capacity of local authorities to manage disembarkations and reception operations. This necessity, according to the government, leads to the distribution of disembarkation points assigned to NGO ships throughout Italy, not just in southern ports. Finally, there remains the act of civil disobedience, which truly risks leading to anarchy in the management of a phenomenon that needs to be governed and regulated, rather than provoked.

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