20 days of blockade plus a fine: Italian authorities have arrested the German sea rescue ship “Humanity 1”, according to the aid organization – after 200 migrants were rescued from distress at sea by the crew.
The crew of the “Humanity 1” said it rescued 200 boat migrants from distress at sea over the weekend and brought them to the southern Italian port city of Crotone. The Italian authorities then temporarily took the German sea rescue ship out of circulation, as the organization SOS Humanity announced.
The blockade is valid for 20 days and a fine of 3,333 euros has also been imposed. There was initially no official information about this from the Italian coast guard. The Berlin organization now wants to take legal action and sue against the detention in the port city in Calabria.
Organization denies allegations by Italian authorities
According to SOS Humanity, the authorities accuse the crew and the organization of previously ignoring the instructions of the responsible Libyan coast guard to leave the area during a rescue operation. During the operation, 46 people who, according to the German organization, were already in the water, were rescued. The Italian authorities, in turn, claim that the crew is responsible for the boat migrants escaping from the Libyan coast guard and jumping into the water.
SOS Humanity denies the allegations and wants to refute them on its homepage with a detailed chronological history of events.
The arrest of “Humanity 1” is a direct consequence of the implementation of Italian Law 15/2023, which creates a number of bureaucratic obstacles for search and rescue at sea and has already led to the arrest of civilian rescue ships in 13 cases in 2023, said the sea rescue organization.
Italian government tightens laws
The Italian right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is increasingly taking action against civilian sea rescuers. With Law 15/2023, which, among other things, provides for arrests and fines for alleged violations, it has tightened the action against sea rescuers. Aid organizations criticize that this prevents them from rescuing people in distress at sea.