Italian authorities detained and seized a lifeboat for migrants on Saturday. The craft named Louise Michel belongs to a German charity. On Friday, Italy also seized a lifeboat belonging to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government has reported limiting the number of asylum seekers arriving in Italy. For this purpose, a law has been passed that forces rescue ships to only carry out one rescue mission at a time. Then they must return to a port designated by the authorities.
The Italian coastguard had ordered the Louise Michel to dock in the port of Trapani, but this was not complied with. The boat had carried out a rescue operation in Libyan waters and then went in search of three other migrant boats. The Coast Guard then seized the boat.
The Louise Michel is now moored in the harbor of the island of Lampedusa. “We know that dozens of boats are currently in distress just off Lampedusa, but we cannot help,” the aid organization writes on Twitter. “This is unacceptable!”
According to the Italian government, the use of rescue ships encourages migrants to make the crossing. Critics deny this, saying that these ships pick up only a small percentage of the people who want to reach the EU via the Italian coasts.
The International Maritime Organization, a body of the United Nations, estimates that more than 1,400 people will have disappeared in the Mediterranean by 2022.
