The German government has called on the Italian government to «quickly» assist the more than 100 unaccompanied minors on board the NGO SOS Humanity ship, which is awaiting authorization to take 179 migrants and refugees rescued in the Mediterranean to port.
The ‘Humanity 1’, flying the German flag, is at the expense of what the Italian authorities decide, as is the ‘Geo Barents’ of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the ‘Ocean Viking’ of SOS Mediterranée. In total, almost a thousand migrants are therefore still waiting.
The Italian government, which will toughen its migration policy following the rise of the far-right, has called on the countries of origin of these boats to take charge of the migrants and refugees. The German Executive responded by warning of the immediate needs of the passengers of the ‘Humanity 1’, many of whom require medical assistance.
«Saving people in danger of death is the most important thing,» reads this response, which also defends the «important contribution» made by NGOs, which Rome accuses instead of encouraging irregular immigration in North Africa, according to the Rai channel.
The Italian Foreign Ministry has replied in another note to the German Embassy to advance that it will examine in detail the situation on the ship and then take a decision.
The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, of the League, defended this new doctrine this week. «We cannot bring migrants who are rescued at sea by foreign ships that operate without any coordination with the authorities,» he asserted, according to the daily ‘Corriere della Sera’.
Piantedosi claimed that migrants arriving in the country after being rescued by these vessels account for 16 percent of arrivals. «Italy will not abandon its duty to rescue people at sea, but European solidarity has to become a reality,» he urged.
