Lampedusa, Italy: The stand-off between a Sea-Watch rescue boat and Rome escalated Thursday as the European Commission called for relief for 42 migrants stranded on the spurned vessel.
“We waited one night. We cannot wait another,” the German NGO tweeted on Thursday, a day after the Sea-Watch 3 entered Italian waters despite the threat of a hefty fine.
“Desperation of people in need is nothing to gamble with.”
The Sea-Watch 3 entered Italian waters on Wednesday despite a threat of hefty fines from far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. It is waiting off the coast of Lampedusa island.
The ship’s Captain Carola Rackete has said she is ready to go to prison to bring the migrants to safety. They have spent more than two weeks at sea.
Salvini has said the migrants can only disembark if they head straight to the Netherlands, where the Sea-Watch 3 is registered, or to Germany.
The anti-immigrant Lega leader accuses NGOs of aiding human trafficking and says Europe should better share the load of receiving migrants.
EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Brussels was “closely involved in coordinating with the member states to find a solution for relocating the migrants on board Sea-Watch 3 once they are disembarked.”
“A solution for people on board is only possible once they are disembarked,” Avramopoulos said in a statement. “I hope that Italy in this particular incident will contribute to a swift resolution for the persons on board.”
Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud noted that while “the duty to rescue is clear”, “there is no obligation for countries to accept disembarkation for incidents from outside their rescue area.”
Of the 53 migrants initially rescued by the Sea-Watch 3 off Libya on June 12, Italy has already taken in 11 vulnerable people.
Aid groups and the UN say it is not safe to take migrants back to war-torn Libya.
Salvini has tried to ban the Dutch-flagged vessel from approaching under a “closed ports” policy which has seen migrants repeatedly stranded at sea.
“I hope that in the coming hours there will be a judge to say that there are outlaws on board this vessel,” Salvini told Italian radio on Thursday.
Salvini has threatened to not register the migrants on arrival and to send them on elsewhere in Europe, but Brussels has warned this would result in a penalty procedure for Rome.
— AFP
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