On Sunday, Jean-Claude Samouiller, President of Amnesty International in France condemned the deliberate sorting of migrants coming from Libya by the Italian authorities, saying that “it is a flagrant violation of international law.”
In press statements, Samouiller said that “after more than ten days of deadlock, Italy finally authorized a ship from the NGO SOS Humanity, flying the German flag, to dock in the Sicilian port of Catania. But the Italian authorities want to sort out the migrants they will welcome on board the boat.”
He stated that Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani announced that the authorities will sort out the migrants: “only minors, pregnant women, and sick people have been authorized to disembark this Sunday morning. The ship’s 35 adult men remained on board.”
“Italian authorities must urgently allow all people on the ship to disembark as soon as possible,” said Julia Hall, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director at the Europe Regional Office.
She said that “it is disgraceful that the Italian government continues to assist Libyan authorities in violating their people’s human rights. It adds insult to injury that the Italian government also refuses disembarkation to those who managed to leave that country.”
“Italy legitimately expects other EU Member States to share responsibility for people seeking asylum, but this does not justify imposing measures that only increase the suffering of already traumatized people,” Hall added.
Earlier today, the Italian authorities ordered the German-flagged rescue ship Humanity 1 to leave the port of Catania, with 35 exhausted rescued men still on board. They allowed 144 people to disembark after a selection was made on the basis of a brief physical examination by health officials sent on board by the authorities.
All the people rescued by Humanity 1 had departed from Libya. They were refugees and migrants at constant risk of torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, and other abuses. After attempting to cross the central Mediterranean, they were rescued by Humanity 1 and spent up to two weeks on the rescue vessel.
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