Italy in grips of migrant battle as charity banned from rescuing asylum seekers

A migrant rescue ship impounded by Italy will put to sea once more on Friday – but faces further sanctions if it breaks strict rules set down by Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government.

The 20-day penalty was imposed on the Ocean Viking, a migrant rescue boat chartered by the NGO SOS Mediterranee – on January 1.

Authorities decided to act after the vessel was found to have broken regulations governing charity groups operating such ships, imposed by Ms Meloni’s government, which came into power in October 2022.

Activists have condemned the rules, claiming they are intended to make it more difficult to do their jobs and consequently put the lives of migrants at risk.

As things stand, NGOs are required to give notification immediately after a rescue operation and head to the port designated by officials immediately, which is frequently a long way from the ship’s location.

Ships are barred from setting off on more than one rescue mssion at a time unless they are given permission to do so.

Any vessel found to have violated the rules can be blocked from using Italian ports for up to two months, and their captains can be fined anything from £8,500 (€10,000) to £43,000 (€50,000).

If found in violation once more, the Italian government is authorised to seize the ship, as was the case with the Ocean Viking, when it was impounded for the second time in two months, having disembarked 244 people rescued in the Mediterranean Sea on December 30.

The ship was judged to have deviated from its designated course to a port in Bari, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, to respond to another distress call 15 nautical miles away.

The ship did not in the end make a second rescue after noticing the vessel in distress was actually 60 nautical miles away and resumed its original course.

Alessandro Porro, a senior rescuer and president of SOS Mediterranee’s Italy operation, explained: “We are accused of not having followed the orders of the Italian coast guard, and the only fault we have is that of having followed the law of the sea.”

When it arrived in Bari, the ship’s crew received a 20-day detention order for the ship and a £2,800 (€3,300) fine. The detention order expires on Friday.

Mary Finn, another Ocean Viking rescuer, said: “We know this is a tactic to try and stop our operation rather than something that is valid in some way.

“And I find it painful to feel that humanity’s not on our side or that the authorities aren’t on our side, because it’s so obvious when you do this work that what we’re doing is the right thing to be doing.”

In an interview today, Sara Kelany, migration policy coordinator for Ms Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party said the presence of charity-run ships in the Mediterranean must be both limited and strictly regulated.

She said of humanitarian organisations: “In essence, they want to be political actors within the dynamics of immigration.

“Immigration is a state’s national competence, and we cannot allow private organisations to influence our migration policies with their policies.”

Migrant arrivals from North Africa usually slow down in Italy as a result of difficult weather conditions, but people are still trying to reach the country.

In December, 5,237 migrants arrived, according to Italy’s Ministry of the Interior, with 174 people believed to have been lost at sea.

Last year, more than 60 percent of the 260,000 people who got to Europe by crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa initially arrived in Italy, according to both United Nations and Italian statistics.

Also in 2023, more than 3,000 migrants drowned at sea while attempting the hazardous journey, the International Organisation for Migration says.