Italy shuts ports to migrant boat, asks Malta to open its doors

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Italy shuts ports to migrant boat, asks Malta to open its doors

By Crispian Balmer

 

FILE PHOTO: Migrants disembark from the MV Aquarius, a search and rescue ship run in partnership between SOS Mediterranee and Medecins Sans Frontieres, after it arrived in Augusta on the island of Sicily, Italy, January 30, 2018. REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello/File Photo

 

ROME (Reuters) - Italy will refuse to let a humanitarian ship carrying more than 600 migrants dock at its ports and has asked the Mediterranean island of Malta to open its doors to the vessel, government officials said on Sunday.

 

Malta brushed off the request, saying it had nothing to do with the rescue operation, opening the prospect of a diplomatic rift between the two European Union allies.

 

The move by Italy's new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who is also head of the far-right League, represents an opening gambit to make good on his electoral promises to halt the flow of migrants into the country.

 

"Malta takes in nobody. France pushes people back at the border, Spain defends its frontier with weapons," Salvini wrote on Facebook. "From today, Italy will also start to say no to human trafficking, no to the business of illegal immigration."

 

More than 600,000 migrants have reached Italy by boat from Africa in the past five years. Numbers have dropped dramatically in recent months, but rescues have increased in recent days, presenting Salvini with his first test as minister.

 

"My aim is to guarantee a peaceful life for these youths in Africa and for our children in Italy," Salvini said, using the Twitter hashtag "We are shutting the ports".

 

However, Salvini does not have authority over the ports and it was not immediately clear if his line would hold. The mayor of Naples, who has repeatedly clashed with the League leader, said he would welcome in the humanitarian boat.

 

"Naples is ready, without funds, to save lives," he said.

 

European charity SOS Mediterranee said on Twitter earlier on Sunday that its rescue boat Aquarius had taken on board 629 migrants, including 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 other children and seven pregnant women.

 

The charity said the group of mainly sub-Saharan Africans were picked up in six different rescue operations off the coast of Libya and included hundreds who were plucked from the sea by Italian naval units and then transferred to the Aquarius.

 

"The boat is now heading north towards a secure port," SOS Mediterranee tweeted on Sunday without specifying its destination, though virtually every such migrant boat over the past five years has ended up in Italy.

 

ITALIAN COORDINATION

Its route north will take it past Malta, and the Italian government said its port authorities had written to the small island state asking it to let the Aquarius dock there.

 

"The island cannot continue looking the other way when it comes to respecting international conventions," said the statement, which was signed by Salvini and Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli, who is nominally in charge of the ports.

 

Malta said the rescue operations took place in international waters off Libya and were coordinated by Italy.

 

"Malta is neither the competent nor the coordinating authority in this case. Malta will observe prevailing laws," its government said in a brief statement.

 

SOS Mediterranee spokesperson Mathilde Auvillain said the Aquarius had received orders to head north after a series of sea rescues and was now was awaiting "definitive instructions".

 

"Our objective is the disembarkation in a port of safety of the 629 people now on board the Aquarius - some we rescued yesterday night in difficult conditions," she said.

 

Charity boats operating off the Libyan coast have played an increasingly important role in rescuing migrants who often put to sea in flimsy inflatable boats not designed for the open sea.

 

The United Nations estimates that at least 500 people have died in 2018 trying to cross the central Mediterranean, following some 2,853 fatalities last year.

 

Salvini has accused the charities of acting as a "taxi service" for the migrants. On Friday, he called on NATO to help Italy defend its southern shores.

 

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer in Rome and Chris Scicluna in Malta; Editing by Larry King)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-06-11

 

[FreddieRoyle]

Salvini is finally a sane head in charge. Expect to see him saving thousands of lives after stopping the vile encouragement of Africans to come to Europe one and all. This worked perfectly in Australia where the death rate dropped to zero after a sensible government stopped boat people.  I shudder to think how many poor souls lost their lives in th epast few years just so Merkel and co could play the saint. Very sad indeed.

 

 

[otherstuff1957]

Some of the aid groups are now either actually or virtually working with the Human Traffickers.  The Traffickers get them offshore in either leaky worn-out fishing boats or in big cheap inflatables and then the aid groups pick them up off the coast of North Africa and take them north to Europe.

 

I realize that the aid groups are well intentioned and just want to save lives, but they are enriching criminal gangs in the process!

[arithai12]

9 minutes ago, otherstuff1957 said:

Some of the aid groups are now either actually or virtually working with the Human Traffickers.  The Traffickers get them offshore in either leaky worn-out fishing boats or in big cheap inflatables and then the aid groups pick them up off the coast of North Africa and take them north to Europe.

 

I realize that the aid groups are well intentioned and just want to save lives, but they are enriching criminal gangs in the process!

well intentioned surely, but also well paid.

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, otherstuff1957 said:

Some of the aid groups are now either actually or virtually working with the Human Traffickers.  The Traffickers get them offshore in either leaky worn-out fishing boats or in big cheap inflatables and then the aid groups pick them up off the coast of North Africa and take them north to Europe.

 

I realize that the aid groups are well intentioned and just want to save lives, but they are enriching criminal gangs in the process!

 

True. And also encouraging more illegal economic migrants who expect the streets of Europe to be paved with gold and then often react badly when they find they're not.

[bert bloggs]

Well done Italy ,i hope the rest of the countrys adopt this attitude and close the ports and the overland routes to economic migrants and all the rest of them.

Q, the usual suspects to start their bleeding heart diatribes

Edited June 11, 2018 by bert bloggs

[thaibeachlovers]

I saw the NGO talking head that is involved with the ship. He said some of the people were "rescued" by the Italian coast guard, so seems to me that if Italian ships are collecting people, the Italians are obliged to let them enter Italy. Malta had nothing to do with it.

 

Surely, if they don't want people coming to Italy, best to stop Italian ships going to the rescue.

[dick dasterdly]

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I saw the NGO talking head that is involved with the ship. He said some of the people were "rescued" by the Italian coast guard, so seems to me that if Italian ships are collecting people, the Italians are obliged to let them enter Italy. Malta had nothing to do with it.

 

Surely, if they don't want people coming to Italy, best to stop Italian ships going to the rescue.

"so seems to me that if Italian ships are collecting people, the Italians are obliged to let them enter Italy."

 

I'm not sure about "obliged", although logistically it's probably necessary :- before immediately deporting them back to their home country.

 

On a smaller scale, if I saw someone drowning, I'd do everything possible to rescue them - but that doesn't mean that I'd feel obliged to then let them stay in my house just because I'd rescued them.

[Morch]

Interesting that southern Italian cities (or at least, their mayors) would be more receptive. Can't say I've been following Italian politics all that closely, so probably missing out on how this is tied with the recent elections outcome:

 

Southern mayors defy Italian coalition to offer safe port to migrants

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/10/italy-shuts-ports-to-rescue-boat-with-629-migrants-on-board

 

Italian mayors rebel against Salvini’s order to block migrant ship

https://www.politico.eu/article/matteo-salvini-italy-migrants-mayors-rebel-against-order-to-block-migrant-ship

 

And Spain opens it's gates. Maybe also to do with recent political upheavals?

 

Spain to accept disputed migrant ship Aquarius

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44441386

[CharlesSwann]

Why is nobody observing the massive difference between i) saving lives and ii) accepting foreigners to live in your country for perpetuity?

Why is nobody suggesting the simple expedient that they are shipped back to where they came from?

Misguided humanitarianism doesn't seem to account for it. Politicians are in real terror of the media and anything that looks like negative publicity. The west is in the grip of mounting mental frailty - cue the BBC showing pictures of kids aboard the boat. Make no mistake, the mainstream media is squarely to blame.

 

Every time some misguided 'humanitarian' accepts a ship, it invites another flotilla of ships and all the trauma and death associated therewith and condemns Europe to a state of cultural disinheritance.

[simple1]

31 minutes ago, CharlesSwann said:

Why is nobody observing the massive difference between i) saving lives and ii) accepting foreigners to live in your country for perpetuity?

Why is nobody suggesting the simple expedient that they are shipped back to where they came from?

Misguided humanitarianism doesn't seem to account for it. Politicians are in real terror of the media and anything that looks like negative publicity. The west is in the grip of mounting mental frailty - cue the BBC showing pictures of kids aboard the boat. Make no mistake, the mainstream media is squarely to blame.

 

Every time some misguided 'humanitarian' accepts a ship, it invites another flotilla of ships and all the trauma and death associated therewith and condemns Europe to a state of cultural disinheritance.

As said many times, what government to government agreements are in-place "to ship them back to where they come from". There are terrible reports of abuse and torture for people detained in Libya as an outcome of the Italian Libyan agreement from a year ago. 

 

Under international law asylum seekers are required to be assessed to ascertain if they are genuine refugees; at this point in time approx 40% crossing the Mediterranean are assessed as genuine.

 

A report from earlier this year provides details concerning detainees in Libya, some good, some terrible.

 

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/02/a-year-after-italy-libya-migration-deal-time-to-release-thousands-trapped-in-misery/

 

 

Edited June 12, 2018 by simple1

[Morch]

3 minutes ago, simple1 said:

As said many times, what government to government agreements are in-place "to ship them back to where they come from". There are terrible reports of abuse and torture for people detained in Libya as an outcome of the Italian Libyan agreement from a year ago. 

 

Under international law asylum seekers are required to be assessed to ascertain if they are genuine refugees; at this point in time approx 40% crossing the Mediterranean are assessed as genuine.

 

I don't think that when such laws were put in place, such scenarios as the current one were envisaged, never mind addressed. The same goes for quite a bit of international law covering contemporary contentious issues. Saying "that's the law" is one thing, demonstrating that it still applies to current circumstances or that it can be realistically upheld are different issues.

[dick dasterdly]

2 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

"so seems to me that if Italian ships are collecting people, the Italians are obliged to let them enter Italy."

 

I'm not sure about "obliged", although logistically it's probably necessary :- before immediately deporting them back to their home country.

 

On a smaller scale, if I saw someone drowning, I'd do everything possible to rescue them - but that doesn't mean that I'd feel obliged to then let them stay in my house just because I'd rescued them.

 

31 minutes ago, CharlesSwann said:

Why is nobody observing the massive difference between i) saving lives and ii) accepting foreigners to live in your country for perpetuity?

Why is nobody suggesting the simple expedient that they are shipped back to where they came from?

Misguided humanitarianism doesn't seem to account for it. Politicians are in real terror of the media and anything that looks like negative publicity. The west is in the grip of mounting mental frailty - cue the BBC showing pictures of kids aboard the boat. Make no mistake, the mainstream media is squarely to blame.

 

Every time some misguided 'humanitarian' accepts a ship, it invites another flotilla of ships and all the trauma and death associated therewith and condemns Europe to a state of cultural disinheritance.

Cough....

 

Did you read my post above?

[simple1]

13 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

I don't think that when such laws were put in place, such scenarios as the current one were envisaged, never mind addressed. The same goes for quite a bit of international law covering contemporary contentious issues. Saying "that's the law" is one thing, demonstrating that it still applies to current circumstances or that it can be realistically upheld are different issues.

There has been discussion on the issues you have raised. One outcome was the very expensive (roughly AUD400k p.a. per detainee) Pacific Solution implemented for boat people in Australia by Labor, that agreement was overruled by PNG Supreme Count as a breach of Human Rights. There is an ongoing process to find  solution/s to be agreed internationally; at this stage it appears a long way off.

Edited June 12, 2018 by simple1

[dick dasterdly]

16 minutes ago, simple1 said:

As said many times, what government to government agreements are in-place "to ship them back to where they come from". There are terrible reports of abuse and torture for people detained in Libya as an outcome of the Italian Libyan agreement from a year ago. 

 

Under international law asylum seekers are required to be assessed to ascertain if they are genuine refugees; at this point in time approx 40% crossing the Mediterranean are assessed as genuine.

 

A report from earlier this year provides details concerning detainees in Libya, some good, some terrible.

 

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/02/a-year-after-italy-libya-migration-deal-time-to-release-thousands-trapped-in-misery/

 

 

"Under international law asylum seekers are required to be assessed to ascertain if they are genuine refugees; at this point in time approx 40% crossing the Mediterranean are assessed as genuine."

 

Which reinforces the point that (even given the lax refugee laws), most aren't genuine refugees!

 

I'd be willing to bet money that most 'refugees' disappear into the country, and that far less than the 60% (that reach the point of being 'assessed' as non-genuine refugees), are returned to their home country.

Edited June 12, 2018 by dick dasterdly

[simple1]

Just now, dick dasterdly said:

"Under international law asylum seekers are required to be assessed to ascertain if they are genuine refugees; at this point in time approx 40% crossing the Mediterranean are assessed as genuine."

 

Which reinforces the point that (even given the lax refugee laws), most aren't genuine refugees!

 

I'd be willing to bet money that most 'refugees' disappear into the country, and that far less than the 60% (that reach the point of being 'assessed'), are returned to their home country!

 

It is 60% of the assessed asylum seekers would be economic refugees or as some describe 'illegal migrants'.  On your other highlighted point that's a matter for government decision makers, perhaps currently better described as underfunded / under resourced chaos, then blame the "others" for your lack of competence and diplomatic skills.

[Morch]

9 minutes ago, simple1 said:

There has been discussion on the issues you have raised. One outcome was the very expensive (roughly AUD400k p.a. per detainee) Pacific Solution implemented for boat people in Australia by Labor, that agreement was overruled by PNG Supreme Count as a breach of Human Rights. There is an ongoing process to find  solution/s to be agreed internationally; at this stage it appears a long way off.

 

I'm sure that there were and that there are such discussions, but as you say internationally agreed upon solutions appear to be a long way off. This leads to governments dealing with such issues and crises having to rely on imperfect (to put it mildly) legal tools.

 

Considering international atmosphere being what it is, unlikely much will change anytime soon. At least not for the better (better as in internationally agreed upon policy). All the more probable we'll see more instances where such past agreements and norms unravel.

 

Some of this can be associated with previous notions shaping existing legislation being out of touch with reality, or over optimistic with regard to application. IMO, that's another instance of what Europe's (and maybe the US's) current political struggles are about.

 

Trump presidency certainly does no favors for the spirit of international coordination or cooperation, but hard to see it as a main cause, these issues running back well before he was elected. More like gasoline and fire (cue David Bowie song).

 

As for the UN - the UNSC is gridlocked by permanent members protecting interests and playing tit-for -tat - with two members acting as if this ain't none of their business. Other UN bodies suffer from a bias toward political positions favored by less developed countries (or liberal/pseudo-liberal point of view), without the responsibility of bearing the load realistically applied - never mind enforced.

[ChidlomDweller]

Birth rate by country says it all.  About 4x the rate in Africa vs. Europe.  I feel sorry for these people but see no practical solution but to make emigration even more unappealing than staying home.  To a limited extent development aid can help but also that's mopping with the tap running as long as families keep having this many kids as an insurance policy.

 

https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=25

Edited June 12, 2018 by ChidlomDweller

[thaibeachlovers]

41 minutes ago, ChidlomDweller said:

Birth rate by country says it all.  About 4x the rate in Africa vs. Europe.  I feel sorry for these people but see no practical solution but to make emigration even more unappealing than staying home.  To a limited extent development aid can help but also that's mopping with the tap running as long as families keep having this many kids as an insurance policy.

 

https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=25

I'm always seeing reporters going to a hovel ( with a tv satellite dish outside ) and appealing for us to aid the family of 6 or more small children, simply because there are a lot of small children. None ever ask why the parents are having so many small children that were conceived after their country descended into chaos. They are also claiming to have "nothing to eat" when none of them are even remotely starving. I've seen plenty of pictures of genuinely starving children, and none were running around playing happily.

[simple1]

21 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'm always seeing reporters going to a hovel ( with a tv satellite dish outside ) and appealing for us to aid the family of 6 or more small children, simply because there are a lot of small children. None ever ask why the parents are having so many small children that were conceived after their country descended into chaos. They are also claiming to have "nothing to eat" when none of them are even remotely starving. I've seen plenty of pictures of genuinely starving children, and none were running around playing happily.

Think you find lack of access to birth control, poor medical services, culture of a large family to support each other (low life expectancy e.g. Nigeria average age at death in 2015 was 53.) are the main reasons. As the economy improves, birth rates decrease.

[CharlesSwann]

Africa is a failed continent. Few of those nations were ready for independence, just as they never had the social organisation to admit them to the modern world. They should swallow their pride and invite back their former colonial masters to run the place until such time as they can do so themselves.

[thaibeachlovers]

10 minutes ago, CharlesSwann said:

Africa is a failed continent. Few of those nations were ready for independence, just as they never had the social organisation to admit them to the modern world. They should swallow their pride and invite back their former colonial masters to run the place until such time as they can do so themselves.

What on earth gives you the idea that any western country would want to take them over again? Our leaders would have to be insane to do so, IMO.

[champers]

On 6/11/2018 at 7:34 AM, otherstuff1957 said:

Some of the aid groups are now either actually or virtually working with the Human Traffickers.  The Traffickers get them offshore in either leaky worn-out fishing boats or in big cheap inflatables and then the aid groups pick them up off the coast of North Africa and take them north to Europe.

 

I realize that the aid groups are well intentioned and just want to save lives, but they are enriching criminal gangs in the process!

Perhaps they should take them back to where the boats sailed from.

[simple1]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I understand all that. What I question is why, when they continue to produce children into a horrific world that they occupy, they expect other people to rescue them from a situation of their own making?

At some stage, people have to take responsibility for their own actions. Babies, as we mostly know are not delivered by storks.

Creating children when one has no resources and no ability to raise them, is wicked, IMO.

Guess you missed the bit about birth control services. Unsure how poverty, usually created by environment together with deeply corrupt government is of their own making, especially when taking on board oppression as a component.

[otherstuff1957]

According to the BBC, Spain has offered to accept the ship and the migrants.  Either that news has not reached the ship or they are holding out to try to force Italy to give in!  The ship's track for the past 24 hours is shown below...  still in a holding pattern near Malta.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

6 minutes ago, otherstuff1957 said:

According to the BBC, Spain has offered to accept the ship and the migrants.  Either that news has not reached the ship or they are holding out to try to force Italy to give in!  The ship's track for the past 24 hours is shown below...  still in a holding pattern near Malta.

 

I'm not sure, but I think I heard that the "refugees" don't want to go to Spain, as Europe is the promised land of milk, honey and pavements of gold.

[CharlesSwann]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

What on earth gives you the idea that any western country would want to take them over again? Our leaders would have to be insane to do so, IMO.

Don't know about the others, but for the British, it's what we do.

Sundowner on the verandah, old chap, eh what?

 

Seriously, there would be economic benefits both ways. And how else to prevent all this migration which is becoming like osmosis?

[arithai12]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'm not sure, but I think I heard that the "refugees" don't want to go to Spain, as Europe is the promised land of milk, honey and pavements of gold.

Ehm, it reads like Spain is not in Europe?

Anyway, it's true: the Aquarius captain is trying to resist taking the ship to Spain, for rather vague reasons of "security" and not enough food (1 day longer, right, and Italy has offered to provide food).

This says a lot about the real interests of this so-called NGO.

[otherstuff1957]

Well, they are not going to Spain! They are still drifting aimlessly in between Malta and Sicily. 

 

Position as of 6:19 pm Thai time.

 

It would take them about 3 days to go to Spain or less than one day to go to the nearest Italian port.

[ivor bigun]

Well, they are not going to Spain! They are still drifting aimlessly in between Malta and Sicily. 
 
Position as of 6:19 pm Thai time.
 
It would take them about 3 days to go to Spain or less than one day to go to the nearest Italian port.

How long to turn around and go home?

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