Sea Watch 3 carries 42 internationally displaced people on board
The Sea Watch 3 ship, which has been with 10 migrants on board for more than 42 days in the Central Mediterranean Sea, attempted to enter this Thursday (27) the port of Lampedusa, an Italian island located about 100 kilometers from North Africa, but it was blocked by the authorities.
The vessel belongs to the German NGO Sea Watch and rescued the internationally displaced people on June 12, 47 miles nautical views of the Libyan coast. As humanitarian agencies do not consider the African country a “safe haven”, the ship headed to Lampedusa and, after two weeks at a standstill, violated an order that prevented it from entering Italian territorial waters.
“This morning [27], the ship informed the authorities that 24 hours had passed since the declaration of a state of necessity that forced it to enter territorial waters. At 14:16 pm, without having received communications or assistance, she continued towards the port”, said the NGO's spokesperson, Giorgia Linardi.
“But about a mile away, [the ship] was ordered to turn off its engines. The ship is now stopped one mile from the port entrance,” the spokeswoman added. The Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini, demands that the migrants be taken to Germany, the NGO's base, and the Netherlands, the country where the vessel is registered.
A group of center-left parliamentarians boarded the ship and stated that they will remain on board until the situation is resolved. “We need to put an end to this cruelty,” said deputy and former Minister of Infrastructure Graziano Delrio.
“You don’t play with people’s lives, the 42 migrants need a safe haven. We’ll see what happens, but we were promised a quick solution”, said the captain of Sea Watch 3, German Carola Rackete.
The Dutch Secretary of Security and Justice, Ankie Broekers-Knol, said that the country is not obliged to receive internationally displaced people, which angered Salvini. “If it was an Italian ship in front of the port of Rotterdam, I wanted to see what they would say. Anyone who helps human traffickers will pay the consequences,” she threatened.
Numbers
According to the latest annual report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), both Germany and the Netherlands host proportionally more internationally displaced people than Italy.
Germany hosts 1,4 million, which is equivalent to 1,73% of its population, while the Netherlands is home to 114,1 thousand, 0,66% of its total inhabitants. Italy, with 294,8 thousand refugees and asylum seekers, has a rate of 0,48%, as many forced migrants use the country only as a gateway to the EU and continue their journey north.
By ANSA Agency
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