Status: 06.11.2022 09:12 a.m
After Italy’s authorities had allowed entry into the port under certain conditions, the rescue ship “Humanity 1” docked in Catania. Of the 179 migrants on board, only some are allowed to go ashore.
The sea rescue ship “Humanity 1” with 179 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean on board has docked in the port of Catania. The Italian authorities had previously allowed the ship belonging to the German aid organization SOS Humanity to enter the port of the Sicilian city. Three other ships with a total of more than 900 people on board are still waiting for permission to dock.
The new Italian government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants to ensure that the countries under whose flag the private rescue ships sail take in the rescued. The “Humanity 1” was granted access to the port solely on the condition that only minors and those people who need medical assistance go ashore. SOS Humanity argues that all migrants on board were rescued from the water and are therefore entitled to a safe harbor under international law.
More than 100 minors on board
In the early morning, underage refugees should leave “Humanity 1” according to the agreements. Images from the port of Catania show people disembarking and being greeted by Red Cross workers. According to SOS Humanity, there were more than 100 unaccompanied minors on board.
The only black member of the Italian parliament, Abourbakar Soumahoro, received the “Humanity 1” in the port. He described the government’s decision to close Italian ports to aid organization ships as a disgrace. “Selective disembarkation is underway in the port of Catania,” Soumahoro wrote on Twitter. The shipwrecked were exhausted from cold, fatigue, trauma and torture and are now considered objects by the Meloni government.
According to the authorities’ commitment, only minors and rescued people who urgently need medical help are allowed to leave “Humanity 1” in Catania.
Image: AP
Germany and France want to take in some migrants
Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said yesterday that the government in Rome would not “back down” on its humanitarian commitments. But those who did not qualify “would have to leave our territorial waters and be cared for by the state whose flag they fly”.
The Italian government’s decision to allow Humanity 1 to enter the port and to allow minors and people in urgent need of medical assistance to disembark came after calls from Germany and France to grant the migrants a safe haven . The two countries had announced that they wanted to take in some of the migrants so that Italy would not have to do this alone.