ROME (Reuters) – Thirty-five migrants who were held up on a rescue ship have been allowed ashore in Sicily, ending a stand-off between the German charity that runs the vessel and Italy’s new right-wing government.
“We are relieved that the people can go ashore and, as people rescued from distress at sea, have finally been given a place of safety, as required by maritime law,” Till Rummenhohl of the SOS Humanity group said late on Tuesday.
The group’s ship, Humanity 1, was allowed to dock at the Sicilian port of Catania on the weekend, but Italian authorities initially let only 144 rescued people, mainly women and children, go ashore.
The 35 left aboard started a hunger strike, while the captain refused to comply with an order to return to sea.
Italy dealt similarly with the Geo Barents, a rescue ship run by French charity Doctors Without Borders. The government permitted only selective disembarkation of migrants from that vessel on the weekend.
The 212 migrants still aboard the Geo Barents were also finally allowed ashore on Tuesday. On the same day, RiseAbove, a rescue ship of German charity Mission Lifeline, was allowed to enter the port of Reggio Calabria and disembark 89 people it had picked up in the Mediterranean.
But a fourth charity ship, the Ocean Viking of France’s SOS Mediterranee, was instead heading towards France with 234 migrants after Italy refused to give it a safe port for more than two weeks.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s two-week-old administration is cracking down on charity vessels, urging them to take rescued people to other countries. The government says Italy cannot alone receive arrivals from North Africa.
The country has seen a sharp increase in migrant landings this year, with almost 88,700 people arriving so far in 2022, compared with 56,500 in the same period last year. Around 15% were picked up by charity vessels.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Bradley Perrett)
