Italy allows 2 rescued migrant ships to disembark despite ‘closed port’ policy

ROME (AA) – Italy has given the authorization to disembark to two nongovernmental rescue ships that were waiting in the Mediterranean Sea with more than 500 irregular migrants.

French-based medical charity ‘Doctors Without Borders’ wrote on Twitter that the Geo Barents ship with 248 migrants had been allowed to dock at the Salerno port in southern Italy.

Under its right-wing coalition government led by Giorgia Meloni, Italy has had a “closed port” policy for NGO ships carrying North African migrants trying to dock at Italian ports. However, it has allowed 542 migrants on three ships to its ports in a single day.

Italian news agency, ANSA, reported that the port of Bari, which had been assigned to the German NGO Sea Watch 4, operated the migrant rescue ship Humanity 1 with 261 migrants.

Italian authorities have allocated the island of Lampedusa as a safe harbor for 33 migrants rescued by German NGO Louise Michel’s boat of the same name earlier on Friday.

The region of the Mediterranean between Italy, Malta and Libya has come to the forefront in recent years as an irregular migration route frequently used in the transition from Africa to Europe.

During autumn and winter months when sea and weather conditions are good, migration on the route intensifies.

While European states do not provide any kind of assistance to the hapless North African refugees escaping disasters and crises, European-origin NGOs often rescue irregular migrants who call for help at sea.

The first place where migrants, who can cross the Mediterranean or are rescued, set foot in Europe is Lampedusa Island, the closest Italian land to northern Africa.