On March 24, rescue vessel Louise Michel saved 180 people in distress through multiple SAR operations when several boats capsized in the Central Mediterranean. According to the crew, an Italian coast guard vessel was also present during one its operations but ignored repeated calls for assistance for about 37 minutes before finally supporting the mission. Following the first rescue, the Italian MRCC pressured the crew not to engage in another rescue and issued Trapani as a port for disembarkation. After the third rescue, the vessel was then assigned Lampedusa as a closer Port of Safety for the 180 survivors on board. Once disembarked, the ship was detained due to violation of the new Italian Decree that prohibits SAR vessels to carry out several rescues during the same mission.
On March 12, 30 people died in the Central Mediterranean Sea after Italian, Maltese, and Libyan authorities failed to intervene despite the several distress alerts sent by Alarm Phone and Sea-Watch. When the boat capsized, only 17 people were rescued alive by a merchant vessel. On March 11, the Italian coast guard rescued a boat in distress in the Italian SAR area, that had left Libya carrying more than 500 people. The search and rescue operation was carried out more than 24 hours after the first distress alert sent by Alarm Phone. On March 10, another boat carrying approximately 80 people was rescued by Italian authorities two days after the first distress alerts were sent by Alarm Phone to both Malta and Italy. On March 9, more than one thousand migrants arrived on the island of Lampedusa from North Africa. The migrants — reportedly from Syria, Yemen, and various African countries — had started their journeys from the Tunisian coastal city of Sfax. One of the several boats leaving from Sfax capsized on its way to Italy causing the death of 14 people. On March 27, EuroMed Rights released an interview with BBC on the last shipwrecks and on the impact on migration flows of the current crackdown on migrants by Tunisian authorities.
On March 14, the ombudswoman for children and adolescents Carla Galatti declaredthat an increasing number of volunteer guardians are necessary to aid unaccompanied minors. Since the start of the year, nearly 2000 underage migrants and refugees have arrived in the country without their families, nearly three times as many as in early 2022. Garlatti urged citizens to volunteer as legal guardians for minors. She also said that guardianship “must be promoted more, especially in the regions of arrival.”
On March 13, the Italian government accused the Russian mercenary group Wagner of being behind the surge in migrant boats trying to cross the Central Mediterranean, as part of Moscow’s strategy to retaliate against countries supporting Ukraine. Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto called on NATO allies to help Italy face the rise in migrant arrivals. Similar remarks were made by Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani who during a visit to Israel spoke of many migrants coming from areas “controlled by the Wagner group”. The EU disregarded Italian accusations. European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas downplayed Italian alerts, stating that “the cause of migration is that people are fleeing war and persecution or running for a better life” and ruling out any direct link between increased arrivals in Italy in early 2023 and the presence of the Russian paramilitary group in Libya.
On March 9, the Italian Government met in Cutro to discuss a new decree on migration, in the aftermath of the deadly shipwreck off the coast of Calabria that on February 26 killed more than 80 people. The decree, that was approved by the Italian Chamber of Deputies and is now under scrutiny in the Senate, contains urgent provisions on the legal entry of foreign workers and the fight against irregular immigration. Specifically, the decree foresees tougher sanctions for those who promote, organize, finance or carry out the transport of foreigners, as well as the introduction of a new crime for “death or injury as a result of crimes in the field of illegal immigration”, punishable by up to thirty years of imprisonment. Secondly, the decree limits the circumstances in which the national regime of protection for migrants can be recognized, by excluding migrants whose status is granted due to family and social ties and migrants who have been in Italy for many years and have fully integrated. Finally, regulations are introduced to strengthen the deportation process for irregular migrants by speeding up procedures. As for the entry of foreign workers, the decree stipulates that the law establishing the quotas of migrant workers and granting and residence permits for work purposes should be planned over a three-year period, rather than being set every year.
The decree was criticized by several experts and human rights defenders who accused the Italian Government of focusing on the increasing criminalization smuggling to cover up its responsibility for the shipwreck and the deaths caused by it. The decree was also described as inadequate to address the complex and structural issue of migration governance. On March 11, more than 5000 people gathered in Cutro to protest against the Italian Government, its position on migration and its recent attempts to hinder search and rescue NGOs.
In the meantime, investigations to shed light on the February 26 shipwreck are still ongoing. On March 6, the Rome Prosecutor Office opened a file after a complaint brought forward by Green and Left Alliance parliamentarians. At present, investigators are proceeding without any hypotheses of crime and are considering sending the file to Crotone’s prosecutor office, that has already opened an inquiry into the case, for matters of territorial jurisdiction. It is still unclear why the Italian coast guard did not intervene to check the condition of the vessel and carry out a SAR operation before the situation deteriorated. Italian authorities deny any responsibility for the shipwreck, accusing Frontex of failing to send distress alerts to the Italian coast guard. Frontex, on the other hand, affirms having reported the position, the route, the speed of vessel as well as additional information on the poor sea conditions to Italian authorities as soon as the boat was spotted by its aircraft. As for the distress alert, Frontex clarified that, according to its regulations, the EU agency cannot say whether a boat is in distress or not and that, according to international law, classifying an event as search and rescue falls under the responsibility of national authorities. It would have allegedly been Italy’s decision to send two patrol boats of the Guardia di Finanza to intercept the ship after Frontex’s communication, starting a law enforcement operation instead of a search and rescue one. On March 8, EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson firmly defended Frontex’s response by stating that the agency did everything it could do to avoid the tragedy.
An article published on the Italian newspaper la Repubblica on March 13 tried to shed light on the event by outlining the rules of engagement between the Italian coast guard and the Italian Guardia di Finanza, regulating on a case-by-case basis who should intervene when a boat of migrants is reported. According to a 2005 directive, that was restored by former Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini in 2019, the coast guard is supposed to monitor boats and intervene only in situations of serious and immediate danger to life for migrants on board. According to the newspaper, this would explain that, when Italian authorities received Frontex’s communication, the situation was allegedly not deemed as an emergency serious enough to require a search and rescue operation.
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