The humanitarian ship of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Geo Barents, must remain immobilized for 20 days in the port of Marina de Carrara, in northern Italy, after having disembarked there the 249 migrants it has rescued in recent days. . Rome has declared its blockade after a dispute with the Libyan coast guard, accusing the NGO of not having helped the Libyan patrol boat as ordered.
According to the organization, however, the Libyan coast guard patrol boat – donated by the Italian Government last year as part of the memorandum with the African country to counter irregular immigration – arrived at the scene and tried to stop the rescue. MSF alleges that the coastguard tried to forcefully board one of the MSF rescue boats, and then “aggressively” threatened both survivors and humanitarian staff that they would be detained and forcibly taken to Libya.
That of the Geo Barents marks the twentieth arrest by the Italian authorities of a humanitarian ship. It is also the third ship that is blocked at the same time, since neither the Sea Watch 5 nor the Sea Eye 3 can sail. Since the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, took office a year and a half ago, she has not prevented disembark the NGOs as the leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, had previously done when he was Minister of the Interior, but it has greatly complicated the operations. The current policy of the Italian Executive is to force humanitarian ships to disembark in ports very far from the Sicilian channel, forcing them to navigate for days, in addition to blocking the ships for up to two months if they do not follow its instructions. The organizations denounce that this only aggravates the situation in the central Mediterranean, since they are isolated for a long time without being able to carry out rescue operations.
According to MSF search and rescue representative, Juan Matías Gil, "Italy's actions are outrageous" because "the same authorities we are accused of disobeying were the ones who endangered people's lives that day." The organization denounces that everything happened while they were rescuing 146 people in distress on March 16, when the Libyan coast guard carried out dangerous maneuvers for more than two hours.
"Time and time again, the Italian authorities ask us to coordinate rescues with the Libyan Coast Guard, despite knowing full well that Libya is not a safe place for refugees and migrants and that returning people in danger at sea to Libya is a crime," insists Gil, who has announced that they have appealed to the courts for what they consider an unjust detention.
The blockade of the Geo Barents comes just one day after a judge at the Crotone court, in Calabria, decreed that a similar detention of the Humanity 1 ship, which had been immobilized for two weeks, was inappropriate. The case is very similar: the ship was blocked accused of not following the instructions of the Italian authorities and being forced to suspend a rescue due to threats from the Libyan coast guard when they had rescued 70 people. According to the organization, the Libyan agents fired ammunition at the crew members, which led several of those rescued to jump into the sea. After the court decision, the president of the NGO, Laura Gorriahn, hoped that this could set a precedent in future decisions.
