The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced on Monday January 2 that it would rescue a boat carrying migrants in distress, fearing this would violate the far-right Italian government’s new law on rescue at sea. “We are in danger on our way to the boat to help,” MSF spokesman Maurizio Debanne told AFP after the NGO’s ship, the Geo Barents, was warned that 45 to 50 people lost at sea went, needed help.
The spokesman said he feared trouble with Italian authorities over a new law, which came into force on Monday, which aims to limit the number of people brought ashore by restricting the number of rescue operations NGOs can carry out on a sea voyage , is limited by Rome, which can then instruct NGOs not to rescue migrants, according to Maurizio Debanne.
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MSF posted a series of tweets earlier Monday suggesting that it is only rescuing boats in distress at the request of Italian authorities. The NGO added that Rome had asked for a way not to intervene as the situation was “managed by Libya”. The Geo Barents obeyed and set off for the port of Taranto (Italy) with 85 rescued people on board.
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“No Answer”
The ship then received an alert from Alarm Phone, an emergency number for migrants in distress at sea, reporting a boat in trouble on the Geo Barents’ route. “We immediately asked the Italian authorities for permission to intervene, but we received no response,” said Maurizio Debanne. “If we find the boat and carry out a rescue without permission, Italy could theoretically assume that we have broken the new law.” “But under international law and maritime law conventions, we have an obligation to help those who are in danger,” he stressed.
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The Geo Barents did not deviate from its route to search for migrants, stressed Maurizio Debanne, noting that people in distress were on their way to the port. The far-right government of Giorgia Meloni came to power in October and promised to stop the arrival of migrants in Italy (more than 105,000 in 2022, according to the Interior Ministry).