More than 140 migrants have left this Sunday the rescue ship ‘Humanity 1’, of the German NGO SOS Humanityin the Sicilian port of Catania, as confirmed by a spokesman for the organization, after receiving last night permission to enter the port on the east coast of the Italian island.
Three other boats operated by private rescue organizations and carrying rescued migrants are stops off the eastern coast of Sicily awaiting clearance of a port. The ships ‘Rise Above’, ‘Geo Barents’ and ‘Ocean Viking’ carry a total of 900 rescued migrants.
The minors aboard the ‘Humanity 1’ have been the first to disembark while the adults have stayed on board to undergo a medical examination. Some 30 migrants have not yet received the landing permit. According to SOS Humanity, a man fainted and had to be carried ashore.
The measures are in line with the policy recently announced by Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, a member of the government led by far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had promised to tighten the national migration policy during his campaign. Italy now allows the disembarkation of wounded men, women and children, in general, but the transalpine executive wants to hold the countries in which the rescue boats are registered responsible. In the case of ‘Humanity 1’, that country is Germany.
appeal to the EU
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The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, has called this Sunday for a solution at the European Union level to the problem of immigrants who arrive by boat. In statements to ‘Il Messaggero’, Tajani explained that it is correct to accept the sick, women and children, although he has recognized that the Government has reinforced its identification policy.
“We cannot turn the Mediterranean into a graveyard, but we need to know who is on board, where they come from and where they were picked up“, he indicated.