All 89 migrants landed in Reggio Calabria – including about forty minors and eight young children – who arrived in Italy on board the Rise Above ship. Now the migrants are in a reception center, awaiting the transfer on the basis of the national allocation established by the Ministry of the Interior. Meanwhile, tension is growing in Catania, where the ‘residual cargo’ remains stuck on board two NGO ships. Appeal of the CEI Migrantes. The political conflict does not stop.
IN REGGIO BORN WITHOUT 89 MIGRANTS, AN EVENT SAR
The 89 migrants rescued by the Rise Above ship went ashore because the intervention of the boat of the German NGO Mission Lifeline is considered a SAR (Search and rescue) event unlike the situation of the other two ships Geo Barents and Humanity one stopped in Catania . The acronym Sar derives from the English search and rescue and indicates a set of rescue operations, in this case naval, aimed at safeguarding human life in particular dangerous situations.
In the first phase of the Reggio Calabria landing, the crew of the “Rise Above” was not taken off the ship while waiting for it to be identified by the police. Sources of the police, in fact, let it be known that it was necessary to verify whether, among the seafarers on board the boat managed by the NGO “Mission Lifelive”, there were non-community persons for whom there could be restrictions. After checking and verifying that all the members are community members, they had the opportunity to go down to the quay.
INSPECTION ON THE GEO BARENTS IN CATANIA
“The inspection of the Usmaf on board is in progress. Following our request yesterday, the doctors arrived: two psychologists and we are waiting for a clinical doctor to check for skin infections”. Thus the head of the Geo Barents mission, Juan Matias Gil, speaking with the reporters in pier ten of the Catania post.
“Help … help” scream the migrants aboard the Geo Barents. On the NGO ship, docked on the quay of pier ten in the port of Catania, the castaways show two signs, one with the word “Help” and the other “Disembark 4 all”.
The two migrants who threw themselves into the sea yesterday and then rescued slept lying in a white van stopped on the quay about twenty meters from the Geo Barents. The two refused to get back on the ship and spent the whole day yesterday squatting on the dock. They were assisted by Red Cross volunteers. Their conditions are good.
The activists returned to demonstrate in the port of Catania to show solidarity with the migrants aboard the Geo Barents, moored on the quay. For safety reasons, however, the garrison compared to recent days is held outside the reception area in pier ten, because there are tourists and buses. Activists shout “all free, all free” and “killers in suits”. The reporters, on the other hand, are inside the area, close to the access gate to the quay.
THE APPEAL OF THE CEI
“We absolutely cannot allow that once again our migrant brothers who come from hunger, from wars are once again treated as waste, as residual loads, and not as people”. This is what Monsignor Savino, bishop of Cassano allo Jonio and vice president of the CEI says, on the sidelines of the presentation of the Italians in the World Report edited by the Migrantes Foundation.
“The situation is dramatic, unconstitutional which does not respect even the families who are on these ships, which does not respect the fundamental right to rescue of the Geneva Convention so it is hoped that this situation will be released and that Italy together with Europe will continue that solidarity sharing project towards migrants who are asylum seekers and refugees, identification cannot be done on board but must be done on the ground and also with all the protections of each person “. Thus the president of the CEI Migrantes Foundation, Msgr. Giampaolo Perego.
THE POLITICAL CLASH
The political clash over the management of migratory flows is growing, with the opposition attacking the “inhumanity” of the government. “Go on like this. Italy will not be complicit in human trafficking. Does anyone begin to understand it?”. Thus the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, in a tweet, commenting on the news of the Spanish NGO Salvamento Maritimo Humanitario (Smh) which has decided to postpone the planned mission in the Mediterranean. The tweet is accompanied by a photo of the interior minister Matteo Piantedosi with the words “first victory”.
