Italy’s govt has been criticised for introducing new laws that can restrict the ocean rescue capability of NGOs and charities.
Rescue ships will have to now request a port instantly after each and every person rescue, and sail instantly to it as soon as it’s been assigned.
Charities now not abiding through the foundations possibility fines of as much as €50,000 and will have their vessels impounded for repeat offenses.
Organisations that rescue migrants within the Mediterranean Sea say the measures will put lives in peril.
“We will be forced to leave the rescue areas unprotected with an inevitable increase in the number of deaths.,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) wrote on Twitter.
“Since January, 1,360 other people have misplaced their lives within the Central Mediterranean,” it added.
Along with the new measures, Italian officials have been assigning ports further and further north, away from the migrant routes.
NGOs have also argued that more migrant boats will now be pushed back to African shores by the Libyan Coast Guard, where they will allegedly face torture, sexual violence, and extortion at the hands of guards in detention centres.
So far this year, more than 103,000 migrants have arrived in Italy, up 55% over last year, according to the Interior Ministry.
