Immigration, too many deaths in the central Mediterranean, lack of rescue ships: Frontex The European Agency denounces the Piantedosi decree

ROMA – 3,155 people died in the central Mediterranean last year, according to data released by OIM (International Organization for Migration). 449 deaths and 667 missing from January 2024 to last September 7. And a report of Fro (Fundamental rights office) internal office of Frontexl’European Border and Coast Guard Agencywhich reports that there is a lack of ships dedicated to rescue and rescue at sea. For some time, the office dedicated to monitoring human rights in migratory contexts has emphasized the need to guarantee resources to increase search and rescue activities at sea, especially in the Italian SAR zone.

A coordinated operation is missing. That a coordinated operation is missing – as was the one of Our Sea which arose in 2013, in the aftermath of the shipwreck of October 3 – in the Strait of Sicily to provide assistance to those in difficulty, Fro has reported it several times, but now he is taking a further step.

The accusation against the Italian government. The Frontex office points the finger at the Italian government, writing how naval operations are even more important “following the adoption by the Italian legislator in 2023, of measures that tighten the management of migratory flows (also by private-NGO vessels)”. Measures that are part of the Piantedosi decree, the minister who introduced the administrative detention of ships that perform multiple rescues, for example, or do not comply with the instructions of the Libyan coast guard.

Assigned ports increasingly further away from rescue points. A decision that adds to the assignment of increasingly distant ports, which increase the days of navigation to reach the landing point and to return to that SAR zone where the presence of ships is more precious than ever, given the high number of deaths that continues to be recorded despite the decline in departures.