A decree adopted by the Italian government on Tuesday would force non-governmental organizations to pay between €10,000 and €50,000 ($11,327 – $56,638) for transporting rescued migrants to Italian ports.
Rescuers who repeatedly dock without authorization risk having their vessel permanently impounded. The fines would be payable by the captain, the operator and the owner of the rescue ship.
The Italian government is composed of the left-wing populist 5-Star Movement and right-wing populist League Party. The League leader Matteo Salvini, who also serves as the interior minister, has been spearheading an effort to clamp down on illegal immigration.
Delayed decree
The adoption of the decree has been delayed due to criticism from the United Nations and the office of the Italian president. Following the cabinet session on Tuesday, however, Salvini praised it as a “step forward the security of this country.” The populist leader also said he was “absolutely sure about the fact that it is compliant” with all national and international laws.
The decree allows police to investigate possible migrant trafficking operations by going undercover. It also makes it easier to eavesdrop electronically on suspected people smugglers. Other sections of the decree impose stricter punishments on rioters and violent football fans.
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Additionally, the decree gives Salvini’s ministry the power to order the NGOs to pay the fines, which was previously the area of the transport and infrastructure ministries.
Salvini has pushed through several anti-migrant decrees since becoming interior minister a year ago, including one in December which ended humanitarian protection for migrants who do not qualify for refugee status. Earlier this week, Salvini blasted three judges who opposed his hardline policies.
Risking life at sea
Rome is struggling to cope with some 500,000 illegal imigrants on Italian territory, in addition to 180,000 refugees and asylum seekers whose status has not yet been decided. Italian authorities can take an average of 19 months to respond to the application, according to the British Guardian newspaper.
Since 2014, over 600,000 irregular migrants have made the dangerous journey across the central Mediterranean to reach Italy, fleeing war and poverty in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Thousands more died while attempting the trip.
For many illegal immigrants, the only option is to pay to people smugglers for passage in unseaworthy boats and risk sea wreck and drowning. The UNHCR and IOM recently said that 1,940 people have reached Italy from north Africa since the beginning of 2019, and almost 350 have died en route – putting the death rate for those crossing at more than 15%. The number of new arrivals has dropped off in recent years.
With official search-and-rescue missions canceled, the burden of assisting the shipwrecled migrants falls on rescue NGOs. Italian coastguard estimates the NGOs had brought in some 30,000 people per year since 2014.
dj/se (AP, dpa, AFP)
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