On May 7, 2023 NGO ResQ intervened to save a ship in distress carrying 130 peoplethat had been left drifting in the open sea for 3 days. On April 29, 2023 Italy’s Rescue Coordination Centre ordered a merchant vessel to return 30 rescued individuals to Libya. On April 28, 2023 2 boats were spotted in distress in Malta’s SAR zone, carrying 78 and 28 Both were rescued and disembarked respectively to Lampedusa and Pozzallo. On April 27, 2023 Alarm Phone reported two boats in distress after escaping from Libya. The first was carrying 50 people, while the second counted about 30 to 35. In both cases, civil fleet carried out SAR, due to the lack of state actors willing to intervene.
On 25 April, 2023 Italian officials stated that more than 2,200 migrants had been rescued from the Mediterranean Sea and brought to a reception centre on the island of Lampedusa over just 24 hours. On April 24, 2023 Alarm Phone reported numerous shipwrecks off Italy and Libya, dozens of bodies at the shores of Tunisia and 26 ongoing distress situations at sea. More than 100 bodieswere recovered off the coasts of Libya and Tunisia, while, after the shipwreck of a boat carrying 50 peopleattempting to reach Italy from Tunisia, 20 people were missing and one confirmed dead off
Over the weekend of 22 and 23 April, some 1,200 people arrived to Italy from Tunisia. Officials from the Italian Coast Guard declared that they responded to 35 boats in distress after leaving the Tunisia. On April 21, 2023 Emergency NGO disembarked in the port of Marina di Carrara 55 migrants that had been rescued off the Libyan coast four days earlier.
Italian authorities continue to hinder SAR NGOs by assigning distant disembarkation ports. On April 25, 2023, SOS Humanity reported the disembarkation of 69 survivors in Ravenna. On April 21, 2023 Italian authorities assigned Bari as disembarkation portfor the 29 people saved in Malta SAR area by SOS Mediterranee, imposing to the NGO 2-day navigation. SOS Humanity, Mission Lifeline and Sea-Eye are taking legal action before the Civil Court in Rome against the Italian authorities’ systematic policy of assigning distant ports.
On May 4, 2023 Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni received Libyan military officer Khalifa Haftar in Rome. The meeting focused on cooperation in migration flows management and the stabilization of Libya as well as North Africa.
On April 26, 2023 the Dutch Council of State, Netherlands’ highest administrative court, ruled that returning migrants to Italy under the so-called Dublin Regulationwould put them at risk of mistreatment and human rights violations. The Court acknowledged that due to Italy’s lack of reception facilities, there is a “real risk” that the two asylum seekers will be deprived of basic necessities such as shelter, food and running water. Accordingly, their transfers were suspended and the ruling is expected to serve as a precedent for future cases.
On April 26, 2023 67 refugees landed in Rome coming from Ethiopia, thanks to the first humanitarian corridor established in the framework of the third memorandum of understanding between the Italian government, the Italian Bishops’ Conference and the Community of Sant’Egidio.
On Thursday 4 May 2023, Gérald Darmanin accused Italian Prime Minister Giurgia Meloni of being “incapable of solving the migration problems on which she was elected” on the set of RMC. In response, Antonio Tajani, head of Italian diplomacy cancelled his visit to Paris, considering Gérald Darmanin’s proposals as unacceptable. Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna tried to ease tensions by raising the idea of rescheduling the meeting. Relations between Rome and Paris were already strained over migration issues, and this latest event suggests a new diplomatic crisis.
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