Hard line on soft ground. “Halting” the traffic of NGO ships in the Mediterranean makes sense, but the road is up. This was confirmed to the Journal by former Admiral Fabio Caffio, an expert in the law of the sea and an accurate analyst of the migration crisis across the Mediterranean. “When an NGO ship rescues a migrant in Libyan waters, it passes through the Maltese SAR area and arrives in Italy,” says Caffio, “who is responsible for the safe place?”. Case study, discouraging analysis. Because if the responsibility “lies with the country responsible for the SAR area,” explains the former admiral, it is also true that from 2019 Libya will no longer be a safe haven where rescued migrants could land. “They say it goes further – the decree of October 4, 2019 of UNHCR and Di Maio on countries of safe origin”. Malta, with its 500,000 inhabitants and minimal reception capacity, is “keeping in the background,” says Caffio. Italy remains. And the NGOs. “It all starts in 2013, the former admiral recalls – during Mare Nostrum, the Navy’s humanitarian mission, with the Coast Guard in charge of the SAR rescuing by diverting merchant ships, which saved about 40,000 migrants in 2014 alone.” But the shipowners are not there, and so it is up to the NGOs, “continues to coordinate Caffio – from the Capitanerie, which they accredit with Una vis 2016 and use as their own tool for rescue activities”. Libya, stabilized in 2018, “does not want to continue – NGOs in its own waters”. As well as the yellow-green government and Salvini, “who tell the authorities not to call the NGOs and turn to Libya.” But in 2019, “not sure” is coming back. And the NGOs are back.
The turning point? The almost ramming of the Gdf ship by the Sea Watch 3 in 2019. “Rackete is acquitted. And the Supreme Court confirms that the equation salvation equals landing in a safe haven,” explains Caffio. A principle that was then “legalized by Legislative Decree 130/2020,” he adds. In short, the Meloni government’s hard line clashes with “laws and policies designed to welcome all”. The decree to “expel” humanity is also in jeopardy. “The discrimination applied does not seem to me to have a solid basis in our legislation,” the former admiral interrupts. That a road sees them still viable. «That of the legal expatriation corridors which was already specified by the government. And involve the EU, expect it to play an active role. We need a quick consultation mechanism, a control room in Brussels that decides quickly on the division between EU countries, that works in Malta and makes us laugh. In addition to a common policy of punishing human traffickers that only we in Italy pursue.
As for the issue of flag states for ships, something could be done here too, the former admiral concludes. “At least ask Spain and France, because it seems difficult for Germany and Norway to force the ships of NGOs flying their own flag to bring rescued migrants to their ports.”